


Let's Dance to Joy Division

by elvenwizards



Category: The Sisters Grimm - Michael Buckley
Genre: F/M, non-magic au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 17:11:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 27,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18664759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elvenwizards/pseuds/elvenwizards
Summary: Sabrina is spending her senior year at Ferryport Landing High, and she is less than thrilled about it. To make matters worse, a huge case is cropping up and her detective Grandmother is over the moon to show the girls the family business. Furthermore, the Trickster King just can’t seem to leave her alone.





	1. September

**Author's Note:**

> Right, so. I'm here to give you some High School, Non-Magic AU Puckabrina because I can, and I grew up reading this series and high school AUs, so they hold a special place in my heart. I’ve been working on this project (slowly) since 2014. Thank you to my readers for sticking with me. One day it will be done!
> 
> I'll update whenever I get more writing done; each chapter is going to be around 10,000 words so… bear with me here. As of 2/12/17 I’ve begun going through and heavily editing/changing this fic to reflect the change in my writing style and how I feel it should progress; all errors have thus (hopefully) been fixed and a lot structure-wise has changed. Changes aren’t exactly monumental regarding plot or content as of when I’m writing this edit, but I might go through again at a later date and completely rip the story apart. We’ll see.
> 
> The title is subject to change, though since I’m nearing the… 5 year mark (I think, I’ve lost track quite honestly) I’ll probably just keep it, or maybe make a poll to what I should change it to. Look out for a note about that, if that happens.
> 
> Some important notes: Because this was written in 2014, that’s when it was set. Sections are dated accordingly. Apologies if this comes across as a bit dated, I’m working off a dating system I don’t want to change so… 2014 it is.
> 
> Enjoy; feedback is highly appreciated!

 

 

 **Chapter 1 — Into The Unknown (Blackchords)  
** ****  
_I see this life through the eyes of others_  
 _And on, on this night_  
 _I will bide my time_  
  
 **September  
**  
 **Part 1 (Monday, September 8th, 2014) — Sabrina**

 

The first day of Sabrina’s senior year at her new school, Ferryport Landing High, was already shaping up to be a massive disaster.  
  
She hadn’t even wanted to go to Ferryport Landing in the first place. In fact, she had been looking forward to her senior year at her perfectly normal high school back in Manhattan, where her friends were. It was her senior year, after all; there were so many things she had been looking forward to. Prom, study nights with her friends, maybe actually asking out that cute boy from her math class…

Except none of that mattered now, because instead her parents decided to send her to the possibly the smallest town in existence. Instead of spending her senior year back home, she was in the middle of nowhere. She couldn’t imagine a worse scenario.

Her parents thought it would be a “good opportunity to get closer to distant family” and “experience the small town lifestyle, which is very humbling, honey” for both of the Grimm sisters, though Sabrina knew that they were only saying that so they didn’t feel bad for sending her away. The last time Sabrina had seen her grandmother, she had been only four years old. Not that she didn't look forward to seeing her granny, but Sabrina wasn’t exactly fond of change, especially when it was forced. She liked things to be normal and comfortable and _routine_. Not dull and unfamiliar, which is exactly what Ferryport Landing was.

Sabrina suspected that her parents also wanted an opportunity to spend some alone time with the youngest child of their family, Basil Jr., who had turned 8 the past year. Being the youngest child, her parents probably felt like he didn't get enough of their attention, especially with the dramatic middle child, Daphne, hogging quite a bit of their attention with her antics. Well, and she had snuck out to a party her friend was hosting just a week before school got out, so that could have something to do with it. They didn't call her the Queen of Sneaks for nothing, but she’d gotten caught anyway and her parents had been furious. She figured they were trying to drill some sense into her.

She had to admit, it was working.

Anyway, Sabrina never slept well in new locations (or in general, really), and it didn't help that they had arrived the night before the first day of school, or the fact that she had inherited her father’s old room. She hardly got a wink of sleep, which only made her even more annoyed when her alarm finally did go off. The line for the bathroom was a million years long when she had finally rolled out of bed, and she’d had about ten minutes tops to brush her teeth and shower before she was kicked out by Daphne, who ‘ _really had to pee, honest!_ ’

Lies and slander.

Subsequently, her grandmother had tried to feed her some strange concoction she had made for breakfast, which resembled soup but was bright orange and had floating chunks of what was hopefully just chicken. Whatever it was, it wasn’t breakfast. The whole ordeal left Sabrina late for school and with a granola bar she had found at the back of the pantry for breakfast (which had still tasted odd; she wondered how long they had been there, and if she should consider calling poison control).

To top it all off, she had grabbed the wrong lunch on the way out. It was really nice of Granny to prepare her a lunch, but the food she’d seen her prepare was just too weird for Sabrina, so she had made her own normal lunch with things she scrounged together from the cabinets. In her rush, she accidentally took the one Granny made, and there was no going back once she had boarded the bus.

All things considered, Sabrina was proud to crown herself 'grumpiest person in the world' by only 7 in the morning. Or at least, she would be if she wasn't so busy being grumpy.

The bus ride was a nightmare of screaming teenagers. They talked loudly across the bus and on their phones, popped their bubble gum and threw wads of paper at each other. The bus driver did nothing to calm them, and Sabrina sat miserably at the front of the bus, clutching her bag close and batting away any stray papers that came close, sinking down deeper into the blistering upholstery. She missed her mom driving her to school, or walking the 3 blocks when her mother couldn’t drive her.

When the bus finally did pull up to the school five minutes late, Sabrina had to sprint to get to her homeroom on time. Once she had dropped into a seat safely near the back of the class, she thought maybe it was over.

It wasn’t. Not by a long shot, it seemed.

Her homeroom was as noisy as the bus was, if not more, and the teacher was as old as the school itself; a great combination for ruin and tragedy, at least for Sabrina’s ears. Students her age ran around the room and giggled and tossed things at each other as if they were in preschool, and the teacher hardly raised his head. The noise gave her a massive headache, and it was impossible to sit silently and read her book, no matter how hard she tried. It was too hard to tune them out.

Needless to say she had never been happier to hear the bell ring, even if it was shrill and annoying. She almost thought it was the fire alarm.

Her first three classes before lunch were fairly uneventful, though, which she was incredibly thankful for. No one really paid attention to her, and the homework load was light for the first day of school. All she had was some AP Literature reading, a little math, and no astronomy.

Sabrina was honestly starting to feel better as the day progressed. She could understand the material, teachers didn’t call on her, and no one gave her any rude looks.

It was nice.

That is, until she got to lunch.

* * *

In a desperate attempt to have some normal food for lunch, Sabrina had gotten a Sprite from the vending machines in the cafeteria and then slumped down at the end of one of the lunch tables near the back of the cafeteria, alone. She would have just gone through the lunch line if she wasn’t terrified of the gross stuff they were serving; the displays behind the counter looked worse than what Granny made. That, and she didn’t have any money except for the crinkly dollar bill from the bottom of her backpack she’d used to get her Sprite.

Grimacing, she pulled out the sandwich her grandmother prepared, along with a fruit that looked like an apple (but purple and softer) and a plastic bag of homemade chips, which was promising except that were blue. There was also a Hershey's kiss, which was a nice sentiment, and also hopefully normal. It was still wrapped, so she had fairly high hopes.

She started with the sandwich. It tasted like peanut butter, chicken, and raspberries. She managed to make it a few bites through before she had to stop, afraid that she might accidentally throw up just from the strange mixing of flavors. On their own weren’t terrible, but mixed together between two slices of bread, it was the worst thing she’d ever tasted. At least Daphne would probably enjoy it.

Just as she was about to close in on the fruit, someone sat down in the seat across from her. Glancing up, she locked eyes with a tall boy in a green hoodie that was streaked with dirt and what looked like grass stains. He had mischievous green eyes and a crooked smirk, and his dirty blonde hair curled around his head in a way that made Sabrina think that he never brushed it; it was ridiculously tousled and rather tangled. His teeth looked sharp, almost like fangs, but not quite.

She raised an eyebrow at him, unimpressed, and took a bite of the fruit; her face twisted at the taste. It was like avocado, but bad. Swallowing thickly, she frowned at the boy. “What do you want?”

He feigned a look of offense, though his eyes still held their mischievous twinkle. “Can’t a guy greet the new girl without getting interrogated? Besides, this is my table and there are no girls allowed, so scram.” He made a shooing gesture with his hands, and frowned when she stayed put.

Sabrina rolled her eyes and set down the disgusting fruit. The boy eyed it like it was his prey, and when she slid it away, he snatched it up and took an eager bite. He ate like he was going to die if he didn't finish it within seconds, despite the fact that he had his own tray of food. The sight was not pretty, and reminded her a lot of a violent massacre in the wild. A wolf devouring a rabbit.

Gross.

“I don’t see your name on it,” Sabrina replied, finally cracking open her soda and taking a swig. Sadly, it did nothing to get rid of the taste of the fruit and the sandwich still lingering in her mouth. It was comforting to have a normal soda, though, especially after… that.

The boy tried to reply with his mouth full as he pointed at the space underneath her brown bag, which was even grosser than watching him eat. Ignoring him, she lifted the bag. Carved into the table were the initials “ _R.G._ ” followed by “ _Puck waz here_ ” and “ _Trickster King 5eva_ ”.

“Puck, huh?” she asked. “That’s a weird name.”

He glared at her and quickly swallowed (mercifully) to retort. “Only my friends call me Puck. You can call me ‘your majesty’.”

“Fat chance,” she muttered under her breath, dropping the paper bag.

“You gonna eat that?” Puck asked, pointing at the abandoned sandwich in front of her. She shook her head and he snatched it up and began tearing into it like a wolf would a deer. Curling her lip in disgust, Sabrina took another swig of her soda, hoping the carbonation would settle her stomach. She was about to get up and when the boy’s hand closed around her wrist and tugged gently, keeping her in her place. She scowled at him.

“Wait,” he said. His smirk melted into what Sabrina assumed was a genuine smile. She had to admit, he was rather attractive, even with his dirty appearance and repulsive eating habits. He’d probably be cuter if he knew what a washing machine was. “I never did learn your name.”

“Sabrina,” she replied, yanking her wrist away. “Sabrina Grimm. What happened to wanting me to scram?”

“Grimm, huh?” He ignored her question. The smirk was back full-fledged, as if it had never left. “So, Grimm, you gonna eat those chips or not?”

“You have your own lunch, why don't you eat that instead?” He didn't reply, and only looked up at her with a mouthful of food, smiling around the yellow insides of the fruit she’d abandoned. Shrugging, he stuffed some chips into his already full mouth.

Making a face, she turned away and quickly made her way out of the cafeteria. Suddenly, she wasn’t feeling hungry anymore.

* * *

Her next class, Theatre, passed by quite uneventfully, if anything shared with ‘Puck’ could be considered uneventful. The teacher was a passionate individual who rambled needlessly on and on about they play they were presenting at the end of the semester, _Romeo and Juliet_ , and was so caught up in her infatuation with the play that she didn’t even bother with roll call, claiming that she would assign grades under their character’s name, and determine their progress with their performance and only their performance of their roles. A stupid idea, in Sabrina’s opinion. It seemed like an ineffective way to assign grades.

Sabrina was not a fan of that particular Shakespeare play (or Theatre at all, for that matter; signing up for classes so late meant that she got the worst of the electives), and was almost relieved when Puck loudly spoke up that they should do his namesake’s play instead, _A Midsummer Night's Dream_.

He was still an idiot, though, even if she agreed with him.

The teacher brushed off his idea, though, only pausing to scoff at the suggestion before returning to responding with a lengthy lecture how great _Romeo and Juliet_ is, going on about how it was the greatest love story the world has seen, and that it was a timeless romance, blah blah blah.

 _Six people died!_ Sabrina wanted to shout.

She sighed, sinking into the lumpy auditorium seat at the back of the classroom. Not only would she have to do a play, but it would be with Puck. Her day was just getting worse and worse.

* * *

Chemistry went worst of all, the nail in the coffin of an already horrible day. It turned out that she also had the class with Puck. Or “Robin Goodfellow” as the teacher had called out on roll, which Sabrina supposed explained the “ _R.G._ ” carved into the lunch table. He had haughtily corrected her, though, when she had called out his name. His group of friends laughed and the teacher frowned. At least this teacher seemed less likely to put up with Puck’s antics.

It looked like the messy boy was quite popular, and also quite the troublemaker.

“Class, settle down!” The teacher roared over the noise, tapping her meter stick angrily against the chalkboard. “I’ll be assigning your lab partners today. Get to know them well, because you’ll be working with them for the rest of the year. You will not be allowed to change partners once I have assigned them.”

Sabrina crossed her fingers and prayed to every god she could think of that she wouldn’t get a stupid lab partner, or someone who didn’t pull their weight. Glancing over the room, she saw a girl with thick dark hair and slanted grey eyes place her hand on Puck’s arm and lean close to say something. The girl had been announced as “Moth” during role. Sabrina wondered what her parents had been thinking when they named her, though she supposed the name was fitting.

“Let’s see…” the teacher said, glancing over the list in front of her. “These will be the partner sets for the year. I expect to not hear any complaints, as there will be no exchanging partners.” She glanced over the class threateningly. “Peter and Toby at table one, Natalie and Bella at table two. Moth and Wendell, table three. Drop that glare right now, Moth, or I’ll send you to the principal’s office. Wendy and Audrey at table four. Puck and Sabrina, table five. Penelope and Cecil, table six.”

Sabrina groaned internally as she collected her things and moved to her new seat at table five, trying desperately to hide her annoyance behind a neutral expression. Puck dropped into the seat next to her with a smirk stretched across his lips, and despite it being only the third time she’d seen it, she was already sick of it.

“We meet again, Grimm,” he said. “Hope you’re good at chemistry, because I have no idea what this class is even about.”

Sabrina groaned, this time audibly, just as Moth spoke up from her new seat.

“Mrs. J, I’m sorry but… I don’t think I can work well with Wendell,” she said, batting her eyelashes dramatically at the scowling teacher. Her voice was high and pitchy, strafing the line between nasally and screechy. She reminded Sabrina a lot of the really mean girls back at her old school. “I just… I really think I should be paired with Puck instead.” She sighed, turning away, blinking her eyes as if she was on the verge of tears. At least she wasn’t in theatre class; her acting was atrocious.

The teacher sighed, and Sabrina could hear the strain in her voice when she spoke. “What did I say about complaining, Moth? There will be no exchanging partners. Now, please pass these papers around, Peter…”

Moth dropped her forlorn expression and her features twisted into a scowl, which was not flattering at all. Her eyebrows pinched in towards her nose, and she made a small “ _hmph_ ” sound. She crossed her arms, turning her glare toward Sabrina, as if it was her fault that she had involuntarily gotten paired with Puck instead of Moth. Sabrina averted her gaze as she was handed the stack of papers listing their first homework assignment; a ‘get to know your partner’ type assignment. The worksheet featured a list of questions like “ _what is their favorite color_ ” and “ _what is their plan for once they get out of high school_ ”.

Great. Just great.

* * *

 Fortunately, it was the last class of the day, but _unfortunately_ , the one she was least looking forward to.

P.E.

It’s not that she hated exercise or anything. In fact, she was pretty fit and athletic; she’d been active in sports back in Manhattan, and often went on runs to calm herself down when she was upset. She just hated the uniform and her classmates were sluggish and slow, meaning she would probably be the only one really working. Not that she cared; it was pretty typical of high schoolers to slack off in Physical Education. She couldn’t exactly blame them, but she wasn’t exactly the slacker type.

The uniform was a grey t-shirt with the school’s logo on it and the shorts were a hideous shade of yellow. The pair that Sabrina received was a size too small, but when asked her teacher for a larger size, he sneered and told Sabrina that she had to wait a week and then get it from the school store, as what she had received was all they currently had in stock.

Sabrina grumpily changed into the uniform and headed out of the locker room and into the main gym. Students milled about idly talking as the teacher barked instructions at them. They were lazy and only cared about socializing, though, and ignored anything that he had to say. Sabrina likely would have done the same, if she had friends.

Sighing, Sabrina began the ten minute run that they would apparently start every class with, which was no sweat to her. She was five minutes in, passing her classmates as they walked (or ‘lightly jogged’) and talked, when someone appeared next to her and matched her pace.

She glanced over and frowned.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Puck said. He was wearing a male cut of the same uniform, and quite like Sabrina, he had hardly broken a sweat. She was unsure if it was just because he was actually really well built or because he wasn’t actually running; she hadn’t been paying attention.

“What now?” Sabrina grumbled, completing another lap. She looked away, focusing on the run. The last thing she wanted to deal with at the moment was his antics.

Puck’s smirk slipped off his lips and he actually looked genuinely confused for a moment. It didn’t last long, another smirk quickly replacing it, but this one was considerably more forced. “I heard that we’re playing dodgeball today. My team always goes undefeated. Ready to get your ass kicked, Grimm?”

“More like kissed once I beat you and everyone else into the dirt,” she replied coolly before picking up the pace effortlessly and leaving him behind without looking over her shoulder. As much as she wanted to see his gobsmacked expression, she knew better than to look back.

Five minutes later, the shrill sound of a whistle broke Sabrina's concentration and she stopped in her tracks. The ten minute run had been pretty invigorating, and she was ready to kick some serious ass at dodgeball.

“Teams!” The teacher barked out. “Puck and Peter, team captains. Go!”

Puck glared at Peter as the boys stepped out of the lineup to choose teams, and Sabrina recalled that they all had Chemistry together. Peter seemed friendly enough from what she saw in the class before, but Puck was looking at him as if he’d taken Puck’s lunch money or something. She wondered idly what Peter did to piss Puck off like that.

Peter picked Sabrina first with a welcoming smile, and Sabrina swore that she saw Puck’s glare deepen. If looks could kill, Peter would have already ceased to exist in a puff of smoke. It would have been amusing, were Sabrina not so eager to show Puck up.

And show him up, she would.

Puck went after him, picking Natalie, who was taller than everyone (including the teacher) and pretty heavily muscled. Moth looked displeased that she wasn’t Puck’s first choice, which was amusing to watch, though being up against her tall and brawny peer provided a bit of a challenge. Nothing she couldn’t handle, though.

From then on, the two picked classmates until there were none left. Wendell was last and reluctantly joined Puck’s team, who seemed just as displeased.

“Ready?” The teacher called out as the student’s got into position, splitting the gym into two halves. Sabrina gripped the rubber ball hard, examining her targets for any sign of weakness.  She cast a critical eye over them, feeling quite like a lioness stalking her prey. The thought was entertaining.

A shrill whistle sound echoed through the room, and chaos erupted.

Balls flew in every direction, hitting teens in their stomachs and backs. Wendell got called out almost immediately, as did Moth (who whined and griped and demanded to go to the nurse’s office, but eventually just moped on the sidelines). Sabrina got in some great hits on Puck’s team, and soon enough it was just the two of them left.

“Well, well, well…” Puck goaded, rolling a ball on the tip of his finger. He flashed Sabrina a cocky grin that made her flare with anger. “So, Grimm, looks like its ju-”

Before he could finish his likely long-winded speech, Sabrina hurled the ball in her hand at him as hard as she could. Caught by surprise, the ball smacked him right in the face and sent him down hard to the gym floor with a loud thud. His hand flew to his face as his nose started to bleed, but he stayed down for a moment, staring up at the ceiling in surprise.

“You were saying?” Sabrina mocked, giving him a smirk of her own and putting a hand on her hip as her team cheered. She had broken his undefeated record. He sat up holding his hand to his nose as blood seeped between his fingers, an incredulous look on his face. He looked absolutely bewildered, gazing at her with intent wonder. She uncomfortably looked away, instead basking in her teammates’ cheers, allowing the thrill of the win to work through her.

The teacher blew his whistle to gain the attention of the celebrating students. “Class dismissed!” Victorious, Sabrina bounded off to the locker room without another look, eager to get back into her jeans.

* * *

 Pleased to be back into clothes that actually fit, Sabrina stopped by her locker to grab her novel for English when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning, she nearly let out an irritated groan, but managed to cover it with a cough.

“Hey,” Puck greeted her, raising a hand in greeting, the other holding a bloody tissue to his nose. He seemed almost sheepish, and paused, as if unsure of what to say, before continuing. “Do you wanna work on that chemistry assignment?”

Slightly shocked that Puck actually wanted to do work when he had loudly claimed to be ‘highly allergic’ to any form of work in Chemistry (much to her dismay), she nodded. At least he was actually offering; she thought she might have had to force him. “Um, yeah, sure. My place or yours?”

“Can we go to yours? My parents are… well.” He ended his sentence with a cringe and adjusted his backpack uncomfortably. Sabrina raised an eyebrow, but didn’t question it. “I can drive us. My car is out front.”

“Alright, sure,” she said, closing her locker with a light clang of the metal. She hoped Granny wouldn’t mind that she was bringing home a dirty wolf of a boy; she’d essentially be bringing back a stray.

Puck led her outside near the back of the student parking lot to an old Impala that looked like it was in pretty good condition, if a bit old. She would never admit it, but she only recognized the model from watching _Supernatural_ , though this was clearly a different year. She ran her hand along the hood as Puck climbed into the driver’s seat, idly admiring the structure. Even if she didn’t know anything about cars, she could appreciate this one. She slipped into the passenger seat, folding her arms against her chest.

“Nice car,” she commented, running a hand through her hair and shaking her head a little, letting it settle over her shoulders. When she glanced up, she caught Puck staring at her with an odd expression on his face, looking as confused as he had in class. He snapped out of it as soon as they locked eyes, directing his gaze out at the street and putting all of his attention towards driving. Was it her imagination, or were his cheeks pink?

She assumed it was the former.

“Thanks. Got it for my sixteenth birthday, though I had to do a lot of work to ‘earn’ it after that. Totally worth it,” he said. He slid a hand along the steering wheel affectionately as they pulled out of the school’s parking lot. The car obviously meant a lot to him.

Sabrina smiled, and they fell into silence, letting the soft hum of the radio take over.

* * *

 “Granny! I’m home!” Sabrina called as she entered the house, kicking off her sneakers and setting them next to the coat stand, where the family’s shoes were lined up. Puck followed and did the same, and Sabrina was secretly glad that his grass stained, dirt covered converse weren’t going to enter her clean room.

Granny peeked out from the kitchen, a warm smile on her face. “Welcome home, _liebling_! Oh, and I see you've brought Puck. I’m so glad that you’re making friends!” She beamed at Sabrina before disappearing back into the kitchen, the smell of freshly baked goods following her.

Sabrina’s mood dropped instantly at the exchange, and she followed after her grandmother curiously. “He’s…  he’s my chemistry partner, Granny.” Puck instantly latched onto one of the plates of cookies Granny had made as he followed Sabrina into the kitchen, swiping one and stuffing it in his mouth whole. “How do you know him?”

“Oh, I used to babysit this little one for years! His parents were out quite often. Real party-goers, those two.” She chuckled and held out a cookie to her, which Sabrina took begrudgingly. At least it looked like a normal chocolate chip cookie. Looking mortified, Puck quickly intervened before she could talk more about his childhood, or pinch his cheeks, which would have been a sight that Sabrina would happily have paid to see.

“Wow, old lady, it’s been years and I’d love to catch up, but Grimm and I have some homework do do, so we better get started on that! Y’know, grades and stuff. Super important.” He stepped between the two of them, grabbing Sabrina’s arm with one hand and coveting a plate of cookies with the other. Tugging hard, he pulled Sabrina out of the kitchen as Granny waved at them. Sabrina rolled her eyes and yanked her arm out of his grasp, following him up the stairs.

She led him to the last door on the left, the room she’d been given when they’d moved in the night before. Her sister’s was right next door. The two walked in and dropped their backpacks by the door.

The room was her old father’s room, but Granny had cleared it out in preparation for their arrival, so it was really bare at the moment. She hadn’t gotten to unpack anything yet, and she was kind of glad all her belongings were in boxes so that Puck couldn’t go through them, even if it was annoying to have all her things disorganized. The room itself was fairly plain, she had unloaded most of her books onto her bookshelf before she had gone to bed the night before, just to give it a bit of a more comfortable environment. A solitary green armchair sat in the corner next to it, draped with a yellow quilt Granny had made Sabrina when she was young, flanked by a floor lamp. A bare desk was shoved up against the wall under the window and framed by white curtains, and a full length mirror rested in the corner near her closet.

The walls were a soft yellow color, and the floors were old wood that creaked underfoot. Her bedspread was patterned purple and white, and the bed itself was a white wood canopy bed with sheer white hangings, nice and big, and arguably more comfortable than her twin bed back in Manhattan. She flopped down onto the bed with a small bounce and set her bag next to her. Puck sunk down next to her, looking around with rapt curiosity, though he said nothing.

Sabrina yanked over her backpack and pulled out the worksheet, a pad of paper, and a blue pen, placing them into her lap. Puck did the same, only his worksheet was wrinkled and stained with something that looked like soda and his green pen was nearly out of ink. She wondered how he managed that within the two hours since they’d received it.

The worksheet was pretty straightforward and simple, and they worked through it together while they devoured the cookies that Granny had made earlier. Sabrina couldn’t help but smile and laugh at some of his answers, finding that when Puck wasn’t being a complete nuisance, he was actually pretty funny. They fell into a comfortable system; one of them would pose a question from the sheet and answer it, and then the other would answer it as well. Puck would do something stupid or give a dumb answer and Sabrina would snort and shove him.

“Do you like poetry?” Sabrina asked, reading off of the sheet. She thought for a moment and shrugged. “I went through a poetry phase a couple years ago. I still like it a lot, just not as much.”

“Really?” Puck asked, raising an eyebrow. He picked up another cookie and took a bite. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for the type. Anyway, I actually really like poetry.”

“Likewise,” she replied, managing to hide her surprise behind the last cookie. Puck was actually shaping up to be an okay guy, if you managed to look past… well, everything else. Particularly the wolfish eating. Mostly that, actually. She wrote down his answer on her paper and they continued on with the worksheet.

When Daphne came home, they had just finished the entire worksheet. They were trying to decide what to do (they couldn't agree – math homework or video games?) when Daphne burst into Sabrina’s room with a smile stretched across her face. “‘Brina! I made a friend!”

The thirteen year old stopped short once she saw Puck and gaped openly at him in shock, her jaw dropping dramatically. Behind her, a younger girl with auburn hair and brown eyes shyly waved before dropping her gaze to the floor. “Wow Sabrina, you made a friend? I’m really proud of you!”

Sabrina scowled at her sister and crossed her arms defiantly. “Puck and I are not friends! We’re just chemistry partners.”

“Chemistry, huh?” Daphne winked at her sister and giggled. Sabrina groaned and put her head in her hands while Puck joined Daphne in laughing. Even her friend let out a soft snicker, though she covered her mouth apologetically almost immediately, looking embarrassed.

“Just introduce me to your friend, Daphne,” Sabrina sighed.

Daphne nodded and motioned for the girl to step forward, to which she did shyly. Daphne posed by the girl’s side, arms wide as if presenting her. “This is Red! We have almost all of our classes together! She’s really punk rock.”

Sabrina nodded and smiled at Red, and the two girls departed, giggling and whispering together low enough that Sabrina couldn’t hear what they were discussing. She was sure that they were talking about Puck, though, about the two of them. Sabrina wasn’t sure she _wanted_ to hear.

“Can we play video games now?” Puck interjected, stealing the last half of Sabrina’s cookie and letting out a disgusting burp. Sabrina grimaced.

“No. We're going to do our math homework and get it out of the way, okay?”

He grumbled and looked like he wanted to put up a fight, but got out his math book nonetheless. They were in different classes, but they had the same teacher, so the assignment was the same. They worked in silence for a majority of Sabrina’s work, and she was nearly done with the assigned work when she heard a low frustrated groan come from Puck’s direction.

“What’s wrong?” Sabrina asked, scooting closer and looking down at his paper. It was covered in harsh frustrated scribbles. Several answers were crossed out and corrected and crossed out again. He frowned and tossed his pen down angrily into the book sitting in front of him, then slammed it shut on the pen, as if it was the cause of his problems.

“I just don't get math, okay? Now go ahead and make fun of me.” He turned his head away, his curls bouncing, and crossed his arms across his chest defensively. As much as Sabrina would love to make fun of him, she couldn’t bring herself to get the words out of her mouth. She got as far as opening her mouth before the words died on her tongue.

“I’ll help you, alright? Just calm down.” She scooted closer again and sat shoulder to shoulder with him. He looked over at her, that confused expression plastered on his face, along with a hint of surprise that Sabrina had passed up a chance to make fun of him. His cheeks were awash with a blush color, darkening his freckles, and Sabrina briefly wondered if maybe he was coming down with something. Nodding slowly, he plucked his pen from the book and they started the first problem on a fresh sheet of paper.

Sabrina helped him through most of the problems and was actually a little proud when he showed progress or grasped a difficult problem (though she wouldn’t admit it even on pain of death). She explained everything and watched him work through the problems. And honestly, it wasn’t that bad. Even if he looked dirty and a little rugged, Puck actually smelled pretty good. Like the forest and pine, an earthly scent that reminded her of camping. She found that she wasn’t miserable, being so close to him.

The revelation was… weird.

Eventually, when Puck was on the same problem as Sabrina, they sat in silence again and worked, Puck asking the occasional question and getting Sabrina to check his answers when he completed questions. Once they had finished, Puck lagging just a bit behind Sabrina, they set their papers aside and headed downstairs to play some celebratory video games. While Sabrina had planned on unpacking after school, she figured she’d have plenty of time to do that later.

Puck flopped onto the couch as Sabrina rifled through the video games. He propped his feet up on the coffee table and Sabrina tossed aside a stray book that had found its way into the game bin, which was minuscule compared to the books strewn about the room and overflowing from the shelves.

“How about Mario Kart?” Sabrina asked, turning to look at him and holding the game up for his approval. He lit up and nodded, so she loaded the game and handed him a controller. A malicious grin replaced his joyful expression, and Sabrina was sure that she was mirroring it. She kicked ass at this game.

They played for a good two hours, shoving each other and leaning forward, calling each other names and taunting each other. To Sabrina, if felt comfortable. Almost like when she used to play this with her friends, in Manhattan. Truth be told, college wasn’t the only reason she had dreaded leaving New York City. It was also because it had been all she knew. Now, she had a new home, even if it was only temporary, and that was hard to get used to.

“Yes!” Sabrina cheered as the round ended and announced her as the victor. That win had put her in the lead by a whopping 2 rounds. Puck slumped down and groaned, wailing in remorse and looking as if he was attempting to melt right into the rug.

“It can’t be!” he cried, holding his hands to the ceiling, as if accusing some god of his loss. “How could she have beaten me? It’s impossible!”

Sabrina was about to make a smart remark in her favor when Granny called them from the kitchen, announcing dinner. The two teenagers raced each other to the dining room, with Puck winning by a landslide, nearly crashing into the table. Granny cried out, scolding the two of them lightly. Puck beamed and Sabrina scowled, slumping into a seat at the end of the dining room table. Puck slipped into the seat next to her just as Daphne and Red came into the room. Daphne sat across from Puck and Red across from Sabrina, with Granny at the head of the table.

“Where’s Uncle Jake?” Daphne asked, helping herself to a good portion of mashed sweet potatoes and a gravy that was thick and green. Sabrina made a face and had some of the sweet potatoes and (hopefully) chicken, but refused to have any of the sauce. Puck and Daphne were all about the strange concoctions, but Red held back as well. Sabrina was glad she wasn’t the only one.

“He’s on a date tonight,” Granny said, beaming. “He finally got the courage to ask Briar Rose on a date earlier this morning.”

Daphne squealed. They had met Briar the night before when they’d arrived; she was a very sweet lady who owned a coffee shop downtown, an apparently their Uncle had been smitten with her for quite some time. Daphne thought that Briar was like a princess, and Jake wholeheartedly agreed. Sabrina was happy for him, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t hoping it could get her a discount on coffee.

Sabrina tuned out the rest of the conversation, uninterested in gushing about Uncle Jake’s dating life or talking about school, instead choosing to think about where she’d put things when she unpacked or the book she was reading. She ate quietly and tried not to look at Puck while he ate. If she did, she’d surely lose her appetite.

* * *

Once dinner ended, the four of them did the dishes and packaged leftovers, letting Granny rest in front of the fireplace with one of her many books. Afterwards, Puck retrieved his things from Sabrina’s room and slipped on his shoes, pausing on the porch. She stood in the doorway, and the two stared at the welcome mat silently for a few moments, on each side of the threshold. It felt awkward, but Sabrina wasn’t really sure why.

“Thanks for helping me with the math,” he said finally, rubbing the back of his head. He seemed almost… nervous, which Sabrina found strange; it wasn’t like the strange confidence and wild personality he’d shown her earlier in the day.

She shrugged and smiled, a small spike of happiness running through her. Puck actually thanked her. She wasn’t sure that he even knew what manners were. Regardless, it felt good to be thanked. “Don’t mention it.”

He shuffled a little and then held out his phone, not meeting her eyes. Confused, Sabrina took it and looked at it. Her name was typed into the new contact slot, and the line blinked as it waited for a phone number to be typed in.

“For, you know, if I need math help or whatever,” he grumbled. _Oh_ , Sabrina thought, her cheeks alighting. She quickly typed in her number and re-read it to make sure it was right before handing his phone back. He smiled a real, genuine smile and then headed off to his car to go home. Sabrina watched him from the porch, leaning on the railing and watching him drive away.

* * *

Barely an hour later, Sabrina had finished her reading for English and had just gotten dressed in her pajamas when Daphne once again burst into her room wearing a bright pink nightgown. Sabrina assumed that Red went home. since the girl was nowhere in sight.

“What happened to knocking?” Sabrina asked, though she was unable to stop herself from smiling as her sister flopped down on the bed next to her.

Daphne held up the brush that she had brought with her, ignoring the question as if it hadn’t been asked. “Can I?”

Smiling, Sabrina nodded and shifted so that her sister could brush her hair. Daphne ran the brush through Sabrina's long, silky hair with a smile. It was a bit of a tradition between the sisters; they had done this for years. The tension bled from her shoulders, and she tipped her head back slightly.

“Soooo…” Daphne started. “That Puck guy. He’s kind of cute, isn’t he?”

Sabrina rolled her eyes, even if her sister couldn’t see her do so. So that’s what this was about. “I guess. He’s pretty dirty, though, and really arrogant. Not to mention the fact that he eats like a pig, and seems to think he’s a king or something. What’s up with that? Like, how is he so popular at school? I just don’t get it.”

Daphne raised an eyebrow and giggled. “Maybe it’s because he’s totally hot.”

Sabrina blushed, scowling. She was really glad that her sister couldn’t see her face right now, or she would never hear the end of it. She could understand why her sister thought so, even if she would never tell her that. “He is not.”

Before Daphne could get another word in edgewise, Sabrina’s phone chimed twice, playing the generic text tone it was set to. She picked up her phone from where it lay discarded next to her English novel, relieved to be spared more of her sister’s invasive questions. The number wasn’t entered in her phone and she didn’t recognize it, so she opened the message with Daphne peering over her shoulder curiously.

**Unknown Number**

> _Hey grimm i forgot to ask, do you want a ride to shcool tomorrow?_

> _or w/e_

  
“Is that Puck?” Daphne squealed. “Oh my gosh, Sabrina, you have to say yes. This is so gravy!”

Sabrina grimaced at her sister’s squeak (and at Puck's atrocious spelling). “Fine, whatever,” she muttered, sending a quick reply.

**  
Sabrina**

> Sure.

As she pressed the send button, Daphne poked her hard on the shoulder with the end of the hairbrush. Sabrina winced at the sharp jab and rubbed the spot. “What, that’s all you said? Sabrina, that was totally lame!”

Sabrina frowned. “Look, be happy I said yes at all, okay? He’s seriously gross. The last shower he had was probably in 2009.”

Daphne pouted and climbed off the bed, tossing down the brush on Sabrina's covers with more force than was strictly necessary. It bounced off the bed and hit the floor with a clatter. “Don’t be such a snot!”

“I’m not being a snot!” Sabrina exclaimed, shocked that her sister was accusing her of such. Couldn’t she tell that he was totally revolting? Did her not wanting to admit attraction to him really warrant a response like this? Though, it was classic Daphne, that was for sure.

“Yes you are,” Daphne retorted, sticking her tongue out at Sabrina. She turned on her heel and left the room before Sabrina could argue.

Sighing, Sabrina laid back on her bed. She set her novel and the brush down on the nightstand next to her bed and crawled under the covers. Just before she turned her phone off for the night, it chimed with a response from Puck.

**  
Unknown Number**

> _I’ll_ pick you up at 7

Sabrina allowed herself to a small smile (seeing as no one was around) as she entered Puck’s number into her contacts and turned off her phone, setting it face down on top of the novel. Just a few minutes later, she was drifting off, embracing the peaceful lull of sleep.

 

**Part 2 (Monday, September 22nd, 2014) — Puck**

When Puck woke up, the first thing he did was attempt to smash his alarm clock into pieces, but all he succeeded in doing was making his fists sting. He groped around in the dark for his old baseball bat, but after wading through mounds of clothes and stepping on what he suspected was a Lego, he gave up and decided to just get on with his day.

Gritting his teeth, he begrudgingly pulled on a faded red Coca-Cola t-shirt and a pair of skinny jeans that may or may not have been clean, but they passed the sniff test, which is all Puck needed to consider them clean. They were one of his favorite pairs, even though they were ripped at the knees and worn. He lazily put on some deodorant and brushed his teeth in the bathroom, which took a total of 5 minutes tops. Thankfully he had showered the night before, because he had no energy or time for that today. He had wasted twenty minutes fruitlessly searching for his bat.

Breakfast was boring, consisting of Puck wolfing down pancakes while his father stared on disapprovingly over the top of his newspaper. When Puck paused to get seconds, his father started speaking, launching into something speech-like that Puck was sure he’d probably already heard a thousand times, so he ignored any words that came out of his old man's mouth and focused on his breakfast. Once he finished, he dumped his dishes in the sink and pulled on a green zip up hoodie (not to be confused with his _other_ green hoodie, that one was his lucky one so he never washed it; what kind of fool didn’t have more than one hoodie?) on his way out, shouldering his backpack. Oberon called out after him, yelling “Did you hear me, boy?”

“No!” Puck shouted as the door slammed closed behind him. Surely his brother would be awake now, if he hadn’t been already, and he almost felt a little bad that Mustardseed would have to deal with their father’s rampaging. He did get the short end of the name stick, after all.

Puck climbed into his car and tossed his backpack in the passenger seat, sighing. He ran a hand through his hair, still messy and tangled from sleep.

Another day, he told himself. Just another day.

* * *

 Puck pulled up to Sabrina’s house just as she shut the front door behind her. They had fallen into a routine by now; Puck arrived at 6:40 sharp (most times) to pick her up. He was a little late today.

Sabrina rarely argued when her family called them friends anymore, maybe because… they were. To some extent. At least, that’s what Puck liked to think; he wasn’t so sure she’d agree with him, but she’d definitely given up arguing about it. That had to be something, right?

He couldn’t help but stare at her while she trudged down the cobblestone path to his car. She looked nice today, even in just a pair of dark jeans, white high-top converse, and a loose grey t-shirt with some band Puck had never heard of on it. She rubbed her arms in the cold air, goosebumps lining her arms; he realized she wasn’t wearing a jacket.

“You look cold,” Puck commented as she opened the passenger door and shoved Puck’s bag onto the floor. She slumped into the seat and sighed, reaching to crank the heat up.

“Yeah, thanks for noticing,” she mumbled sarcastically, running a hand through her messy blonde hair. Puck wondered if she had brushed it. It wasn’t as messy as his own hair, not by a long shot, but it seemed to be more ruffled than usual. “Elvis slobbered all over my sweatshirts and jackets, even my sweaters, and I didn’t have time to wash them before school.”

In a split second decision, Puck slipped off his hoodie and held it out to her. “Here. Just make sure not to get it dirty. I mean, I know you like to roll around in mud or whatever it is you do, but please refrain from doing so while wearing the Trickster King’s sweatshirt. That would be rude. And also treason.”

She glared at him as if she thought he was joking and then examined the green zip up for a moment as if debating whether or not it was worth it. She took it, grumbling a thanks as she slipped it on. Puck swore his heart was going to explode, seeing his hoodie draped over her shoulders. It was one size too big for her, but she seemed happy as she pulled the sleeves over her hands and blew into them to warm them up.

Which freaked him out. A lot. In a seriously major way.

He didn’t understand what was happening to him. Was he sick or something? He must be, with the reaction he was having. Why did he feel this way? Surely it was Sabrina’s fault (after all, his heart was reacting to the sight of _her_ , therefore her fault), but he still couldn’t bring himself to hate her, and he didn’t know why. Allergies, maybe?

Why did this… whatever it was, have to be so confusing?

“Puck?” Sabrina called, snapping her fingers in front of his face and bringing him out of his serious thought train. His hands instinctively tightened on the steering wheel as his gaze snapped to her.

“Hmm?”

“You passed the school.”

“… Shit.”

* * *

When they finally made it to school, Sabrina raced off to homeroom with a wave before Puck even got the chance to say goodbye. He knew that they were cutting it close and her homeroom was on the third floor, but still, it put a damper on his mood. Not that it mattered if she said goodbye or anything… He totally didn’t care.

Officially grumpy, Puck retrieved his backpack from the floor, locked his car, and headed to his own homeroom class at a sluggish pace, uncaring if he was late or not. He was too caught up in his thoughts to bother putting actual effort into getting to homeroom.

He was a few minutes late, but no one seemed to really notice. The teacher didn’t even look up from her computer when he entered. In fact, Puck never really saw her move. He was beginning to suspect that she may be dead, but he didn’t care enough to find out.

As soon as he sat down, his friends swarmed around him like flies and Moth took her ‘rightful place’ (her words, not his) next to him. Sure, after they broke up sophomore year (after dating for what amounted to only four days, started all by her and ended by him) they remained friends, but it was kind of scary (not to mention annoying) how clingy she was. She spent as much time as possible with him, and drove off any girls who even showed a small amount of interest in him. Not that he had an interest in dating, but it sure was an inconvenience. And, well, annoying.

Plus, she wasn’t quite his type (if he even had a type; he honestly wasn’t sure — girls weren’t really something he thought about). He did know, though, that she was just too vicious for him. Sure, she put on a sweet front, but he heard every mean rumors she spread and saw the nasty things she did to other students. She was one of those classic mean girls that snickered as other girls passed.

He wasn’t about that life.

“Good morning, Puck,” she cooed, placing her hand on his arm like she always did, which never failed to make him uncomfortable. He grunted in acknowledgement and shook her hand off. She looked hurt for a moment before smiling again. This was a common occurrence. A routine, almost. “You’re late! What took you so long?”

“Took a wrong turn,” he replied shortly, trying to make it obvious that he wasn’t really in the mood to chat. Her questions were always so invasive, as well, and he wasn’t really prepared to answer them this time. And so _many_ questions, all of them meaningless, just to fill the silence.

“Why?” She asked, leaning closer to him. He leaned away, uncomfortable with her close proximity, and frowned at her again. He drew his shoulders in, tension filled.

“Last time I checked, that was none of your business,” he snapped, averting his gaze from her steely grey eyes. They were as sharp as knives.

“Care to check again?” she asked, her voice dropping it’s sickly sweet tone, becoming more sinister. He was unperturbed.

“Sure. Hmm…” He pretended to check his phone for the answer. “Oh, would you look at that! Still not your business.”

“I bet you were with that new girl again, weren’t you? Whatever her name is,” she demanded, pointing her finger at him. Her freshly manicured nails were sharp and painted a bright, bloody red, and when she poked his chest accusatory, he felt a small flicker of pain. He stiffened, but didn’t move, choosing not to answer.

She clearly already knew the answer. Just hunting for a fight, like she always did. He was sick of it.

She crossed her arms over her designer blouse and glared at him, her lips pulling into a pout. She looked like a fish when she made that face. “So I suppose you were with her yesterday when we were supposed to be hanging out with Jonas and his girlfriend?”

Puck shook his head in a blatant lie, again remaining silent. He was done playing her game, especially when it brought Sabrina into it. Yeah, they had hung out, so what? They’d played more Mario Kart and Granny had made some seriously good macaroni and cheese for dinner. And it was _great_.

Plus, he had never agreed to hang out with Jonas, but he wasn’t about to argue with her. Either way, Moth seemed to have some delusion that they were still together, or destined, or _something_ , but Puck was his own person and made his own decisions. He didn’t like how controlling she was. They were just… different.

“Robin, this is so unlike you! I think that Grimm girl might be a bad influence on you,” she scolded in that sickly sweet voice of hers, turning upward into a motherly tone. His free hand shook with anger. “And look at you! Not even wearing a jacket. What’s gotten into you lately?”

“What are you, my mother?” he asked sarcastically, sneering and turning away from her a final time, yanking his arm from her grasp. Her nails scraped against his skin, drawing tiny dots of blood. This time she seemed to take the hint and let him rebuff her, though she did huff angrily and stomp off.

He wiped the drops of blood away and leaned back in his seat, tipping his head back to stare at the ugly beige ceiling tiles and bright florescent lights.

Just another day.

* * *

 The first few classes of the day were pretty uninteresting to Puck, and he spent most of the morning doodling himself as a king, with a crown and wings, in the margins of his papers. Math was a bit better since he actually understood the material for the first time since Sabrina started tutoring him on a nearly daily basis, but English was an absolute drag. The only thing remotely interesting about _The Catcher in the Rye_ was that it caused that one guy to murder that dude from The Beatles… or something.

He also attempted to text Grimm, but didn’t go as he hoped it would.  
  


**Trickster King**

> _Grimm english is soooo boring can we please ditch?_

> You can meet me your locker and we can go see a movie instead

**Grimm**

> No.

**Trickster King**

> Pls

**Grimm**

> _No._

  
Puck had sent her a long message consisting of probably at least a hundred pleases (or like, at least 5), but he didn’t get a reply, and he spent the rest of class sulking.

By the time lunch rolled around, he was starving. He grabbed some nachos from the lunch line and then made his way to the usual table. Luckily, he didn’t have the same lunch as Moth, or she’d probably try to force feed him veggies. Gross.

Once the table was in sight, his heart leaped to his throat. Sabrina sat in the same place as usual, but she still had Puck’s jacket on and she had her nose buried in a book while she munched on an apple slice. Her hair cascaded over her shoulder, and when Puck came closer, she looked up and her bright blue eyes met his with a jolt. His nerves exploded with millions of fireworks, but he sank into his seat like she didn’t just make his entire nervous system get nervous.

“Hey.” Her eyes dropped back down to her book and she flipped the page, reaching for another apple slice. It was such a candid moment that the peace was not lost on Puck, and his bad mood melted away. Moth or not, this made his day.

“What are you reading?” Puck asked, shoving a nacho into his mouth and munching. He wasn’t really that interested, as he wasn’t a book person, but he just wanted to hear her talk. She lifted the book long enough for him to read the cover before lowering back onto the table. It was some mystery novel, though he didn’t recognize the title or the author. “A detective novel, huh?”

“Yup. I love mysteries.” She cracked open her soda took a swig, and then the two fell into silence. It was a nice silence; a comfortable silence. Sabrina would turn the page, Puck would belch, she would glare, and so on.

When the bell rang, Sabrina passed Puck her half-finished soda and stood. He disposed of their trash, and together they left the cafeteria and made their way to Theatre.

* * *

Theatre was Puck’s favorite class. He absolutely loved acting. It was fascinating to him, taking on other characters’ personalities and voices and such. Adopting another personality, melding into someone that wasn’t a boy with two shitty parents and a stalker ex. He looked forward to it everyday.

The play they were going to put on at the end of the semester? Not so much.

“Today,” the teacher called out from the stage. “You will begin practicing for the upcoming performance of Romeo and Juliet. I have assigned the roles to all of you, listed on the main door. Once you have seen which roll you will play, come see me about your script.”

The class filed forward eagerly, though Puck hung back a little, not too eager to confront the fact he would indeed be in a production of Shakespeare’s worst romance. The class took turns reading from the list and grinning at each other and giggling, running to retrieve their scripts. Several girls groaned and complained that they didn't get the part of Juliet, and wandered off whining to the teacher. When Sabrina stepped up to the sheet and saw her role, she growled and stormed past Puck in a huff. She smelled like lavender.

 _She must have wanted to be Juliet too_ , thought Puck.

When he got to the front, he was fairly pleased to see that he had gotten the role of Romeo. One of the lead roles, if not _the_ lead! That made doing the thing worth it. He scanned over the list and spotted Sabrina’s name to see who she would be playing and why she was so unhappy about it.

 _Wait_ , Puck thought as he paused at her name, eyebrows furrowing. _She got the part as Juliet, so why was she upset?_

Then, his heart started to race as it clicked. They were playing Romeo and Juliet, which meant that they would have to kiss! Like, lip on lip action! In front of everyone!

Puck was unsure if he should revolt or rejoice at the thought.

He swallowed thickly and headed up to the stage, attempting to stuff all of the rising emotions into his stomach. The teacher handed him his script, with all of the lines for Romeo highlighted, and winked. He sneered at her and looked around, trying to find Sabrina. She sat off to the side on the edge of the stage, scowling down at her script. She looked like she was going to rip it in two any second now, and Puck wouldn’t put it past her.

Walking over, Puck dropped down next to her with a thud and smirked, watching triumphantly as her scowl went from her paper to his face. “So, who woulda’ thought. Looks like we’ll be spending a lot more time together aside from chemistry and math, yeah?”

She glowered at him and punched his shoulder so hard he was sure he’d have a bruise for weeks.

* * *

 Once Chemistry rolled around, Puck was starting to regret having Sabrina as his partner. Sure, their first few assignments had gone fine with her in charge, but after the big reveal of her part in the play, she had been in a huge grumpy mood (which wasn’t that unusual actually, what with his teasing) and refused to talk to him aside from insults and glares, which meant that he’d have to do it by himself.

Really, was he that bad looking? Surely having to kiss him wouldn’t be _that_ bad. Of course, he’d never kissed anyone before, so he wouldn't really know.

Time ticked on terribly slow. With Sabrina seething and Moth sending them suspicious looks every five seconds, Puck already had his hands full. But then, the teacher had assigned them to do… something with chemicals and make them bubble or whatever, but he had no idea what he was doing. At all.

He was afraid to ask Sabrina for help lest she bite his head off, and there was no way that he was going to ask the teacher, so he made do and just did what he thought was right. Which, as it turned out, was very, very wrong.

As students evacuated the school and the fire alarm went off, the teacher announced that table five failed the assignment.

Puck swore that he saw the smoke cloud in Sabrina's eyes as she turned to him. She shook her fist at him and whispered, dead quiet, “I’m going to kill you.”

He ran in the other direction as fast as his legs would take him and he didn’t look back.

* * *

 The firemen let the students back in the school ten minutes later, just in time for P.E. Puck changed into his uniform as quickly as possible and made way to the gym. When the teacher blew his whistle, Grimm started the ten minute run like the goody-two shoes that she was.

Puck caught up with her, wearing his signature smirk. That always got her going. As he ran alongside her, she turned to glare at him, sensing the impending teasing she was about to get. Puck was still mystified that she didn’t seem to fall prey to his whimsies.  

“You’re really cute when you're angry, you know that?” He said teasingly, wiggling his eyebrows for emphasis.

She socked him in the stomach and knocked the wind out of him. He dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

* * *

 A good half-hour later he was back from the nurse’s office. By then, the class was busy playing dodgeball (again), and as usual, Sabrina was kicking ass and taking names. She was merciless on the court. Students cowered in fear when she closed her hand around a ball. She’d won every single match since the first day.

Puck slumped onto the bleachers to watch the game and wait out the rest of the class, back in his t-shirt and jeans since he was excused from gym for the day due to ‘the incident’. He glanced over the game and watched Sabrina practically slaughter the rest of the class. She looked amazing, taking out other kids and hurling balls at the opposing team.

When she was the last one standing (again) and her team cheered, she glanced over and caught his gaze. A small smile flitted across her features before she was hoisted onto the shoulders of her teammates as they marched out to the locker room with the teacher bellowing behind them, demanding that they put her down.

Puck let out a heavy breath, smiling, knowing then that everything was still okay.

* * *

 Puck found Sabrina as she was leaving the locker room, back in her regular clothing (and his jacket). She didn’t look quite as angry as before after giving other students an ass whooping in dodgeball, but she still wasn’t a happy camper.

“Can we do your house today, Puck, please?” she asked, running her fingers through her hair in an attempt to brush it out. It wasn’t really working. “I really don’t feel like dealing with my chipper family right now, plus I am in need _desperate need_ of some normal food. Granny’s cooking is driving me nuts.”

Puck paused. Sabrina hadn’t seen his house yet, and he kind of wanted to keep it that way. He didn’t want her to meet his parents, he didn’t want her to meet his brother, and he certainly didn’t want her to meet Kraven the Deceiver.

Yet…

“Yeah, sure. I guess that’s okay,” he muttered, frowning. He knew that this was going to be a painful afternoon, but it was worth it to see her smile. And she did, though it was small and brief, at least it was aimed in his direction.

That’s all that mattered.

* * *

 Puck opened the door to his house as silently as possible, attempting to keep his mother from hearing his arrival. Usually, before he started hanging out with Sabrina every day, she would be at the dining table waiting for him when he got home from school. Hopefully she wouldn’t be there this time, with no prior warning.

No such luck.

“Robin!” his mother cried, grinning and rushing forward to give him a tight hug. Her sharp nails dug into his shoulders and he cringed, reminded of Moth’s nails in homeroom that morning. He caught Sabrina’s eye and tried to silently send her a message with his brain.

 _Run while you still can_.

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, leaving her open and vulnerable to his mother’s attack. It was too late for her. They were doomed.

“Oh, and you've brought a friend!” Titania, Puck’s mother, released him and surged forward, capturing Sabrina in a tight hug. Sabrina stared at Puck, bewildered. “You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend.”

Mortified, Puck turned beet red. The things he did for Grimm. “She’s not my girlfriend, Ma. And you’re squeezing the air out of her, let her go.”

Titania laughed and shook her head, releasing Sabrina, who sputtered and coughed as the air returned to her lungs. “Don’t be silly. She’s the girl you hang out with every day, isn’t she? Sabrina Grimm? She’s practically all you talk about, after all! Nowadays it’s all Sabrina this, Grimm that… Come now, dear.”

Puck sent his mother a murderous gaze as Sabrina looked up at him, perplexed and seemingly amused. Titania seemed to get the message, though, and she nervously wrung her hands together.

“Oh, what do I know? I’ve been married since I was 19,” she laughed, moving into the kitchen. His heart ached at the underlying self-deprecation in his mother’s words, no matter how peeved he was at her. “Run along now, you two. I’m sure you have homework to do. And Robin, your father will be home from work at 4. He had to work late today.”

“Who cares?” Puck muttered, grabbing Sabrina's wrist and dragging her to his bedroom. The door was adorned with signs that Puck had made when he was twelve, claiming that there were no girls allowed. Things had certainly changed since then.

Sabrina reluctantly entered his bedroom, her face twisting into the disgusted expression that he was used to as her eyes darted from one corner to the next.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s a mess,” Puck said, shutting the door behind him. He picked up his pile of clothes and stuffed them into his closet, successfully clearing about 50% of the mess. At least he didn’t have any garbage lying around this time. Probably. Hopefully.

Puck was actually very nervous about having a girl in his room. Sure, Moth had been here before, but they had grown up together and Puck was not the least bit interested in her. This was different. And a little embarrassing.

Sabrina picked up one of the several fairy figurines that were sitting on various surfaces around his room. She examined it, raising an eyebrow in his direction. He shrugged, and she put it back down.

Puck flopped unceremoniously onto his bed and patted the spot next to him. Sabrina half-heartedly sat down next to him and set her bag down. Puck nimbly swept Kraven the Deceiver under one of his pillows and out of sight before Sabrina could see him. If she saw him, he’d never hear the end of it.

“Let’s get this over with,” Puck said, and Sabrina flashed him a dirty look.

“Agreed.”

* * *

 Two hours later, they had successfully finished all of their homework. Math had been a breeze since Sabrina was there to help, and chemistry had been a little easier (also due to Sabrina’s presence) but not by much.

“Finally,” Puck cried, tossing his completed homework into his backpack without giving it a second thought. “Freedom!”

Sabrina rolled her eyes at him, but a smile wormed its way across her face anyway. “Can we go for a walk or something? The wretched smell of your room is making me sick to my stomach and I need some fresh air.”

It was Puck’s turn to roll his eyes, but he nodded nonetheless. “Sure. I have something to show you, anyway.”

This piqued her curiosity, as Puck knew it would. “What is it?” she asked, leaning close and attempting to work the information out of him with a hard look. It didn't work, her curiosity surfacing. God, she was cute.

Wait, no. Shut up.

“You’ll see.” He climbed off of his bed, shoving all thoughts of her appearance out of his mind, and slipped his sneakers back on. “C’mon!”

She followed him eagerly, tugging on her shoes as quickly as she could. Puck snuck out of his room, motioning for Sabrina to do the same. To his surprise, she was far quieter than he was, and he prided himself on being fairly sneaky.

“Why are we sneaking?” Sabrina whispered in his ear as they peered around the corner of the hallway and into the living room. The sliding glass door was in direct view, and Puck’s father was nowhere to be found. But more importantly, Puck could feel Sabrina’s breath on his ear. It made his mind go blank, and she had to nudge him to get him to think again. His mind rebooted.

“We can’t let my dad see us,” he said, his cheeks lighting up as if they were on fire. He grabbed her wrist and led her to the sliding glass door and flung it open, shoving her through. “Go, go, go!”

Bewildered, she did as she was told as Puck heard his father call for him. Panicked, Puck exited the house and slammed the sliding glass door behind him. It shuddered and groaned, but luckily it didn’t break. It wouldn’t be the first time that Puck had smashed it. Or the second. He was definitely glad to not have a repeat of _that_.

Oberon appeared through the glass, standing in the doorway of the kitchen. His features were contorted into a scowl and he stepped toward the door, intending to open it. Puck knew that if he didn’t run right that moment, he’d probably die.

Taking Sabrina’s hand in his, Puck bolted for the forest. As they reached the edge of the trees and disappeared within them, Puck could hear the door open and his father bellow for him, but they didn’t stop running.

“What the hell was that about?” Sabrina asked a few minutes later, leaning on a tree to get her breath back. Once she noticed that their hands were still intertwined, she snatched hers away with a scowl, plunging it into the hoodie’s pocket.

“I didn’t want to hear another lecture on how much of a failure I am,” Puck muttered, kicking a pebble and watching it skate across the grassy forest floor. A crisp red leaf fell from the branches above and landed on top of it. He stared at it. “Anyway, we’re not there yet. The thing I wanted to show you is just up ahead.”

Sabrina’s scowl melted into a concerned frown mixed with surprise, and she grabbed the back of Puck’s t-shirt as he started walking. “Wait a minute. What are you talking about? What do you mean failure?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he snarled, and she released his shirt in surprise at his harsh tone, taking a step back. It was full of contempt and dejection, sorrowful. It sounded pitiful to his own ears. He turned away before she could get another word in, marching off deeper into the forest. She would have no choice but to follow.

The walk was quiet aside from leaves and branches crunching underneath their feet. Puck was grateful that she didn’t try to question him anymore, but after that display, he wasn’t sure he’d heard the last of it. He was already feeling something weird, a bad feeling that sunk like a stone in his stomach.

Guilt. Shame, maybe.

Ten feet ahead, Puck pushed aside a thick bunch of branches that led into a clearing. In the middle of the clearing sat a large, thick tree. It was about as large around as a car. They were deep in the forest now, and this was the largest tree around, possibly in the entire forest.

“Is this it?” Sabrina asked, looking up at the tree. Nestled in its branches was a large treehouse (or one of them), only this one was much larger in size and was the only one with a small wraparound balcony. It seemed to be the ‘hub’ of the nearby treehouses that resided in the trees close by. Wooden bridges were strung between the trees, allowing access to all of the houses. There were five houses in total, and only one was missing its bridge.

“Yeah, this is it,” Puck said, starting to climb the rope ladder that led up into the middle of the hub. None of the other houses had a rope ladder, only the wooden bridges connecting them to the hub. “This is where my brother and I hung out as a kid. I still do, actually, almost every day.”

“Wow,” Sabrina said, awestruck. Puck could feel the ladder shift as she began climbing up the behind him. “Is that why you always smell like… forest, I guess? Pine. Whatever.”

Puck felt his cheeks warm, thankful that she couldn’t see his cheeks darken at the question. She had noticed what he smelled like?

“I guess so,” he said, heaving himself onto the wooden floor of the hub. Once Sabrina was at the top of the ladder, he helped her inside and then pulled up the rope to keep intruders out (like his pesky brother). Sabrina stood and dusted pine needles from her jeans, looking around. Puck had once had big plans for this place, but he’d never really put them into action, so the houses were mostly empty and devoid of any furniture, as well as weather worn.

“They look so old,” she murmured, running her hand along one of the walls.

“They are,” Puck replied, taking a good look around as well. He usually came up here to think or listen to music. Maybe it was time to refurbish them. “We could fix them up. Make them our base.”

She turned to him, looking briefly surprised before grinning. “Base for what? Pulling pranks and other shenanigans?”

“My thoughts exactly.”

* * *

 An hour later, they had made a list of materials necessary for the refurbishing of the treehouses and the purposes of each house. They sat together on the large windowsill of the hub, their feet locked together. It had fallen silent between the two teenagers, the only sound being the rustling fall leaves as the wind carded through them.

He felt like a kid again, in some ways, when they had giggled and discussed ideas for pranks. The Trickster King and the Queen of Sneaks were their names, and maybe that was childish, but it felt nice to be able to let go and laugh. Forget the pressures of the world, the weight on his shoulders.

But now they were quiet, simply listening to the sound of nature around them. It was relaxing.

“You never did answer my question,” Sabrina murmured. Puck looked up, puzzled, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes. Instead, she was staring at her hands, placed in her lap. He didn’t remember her asking a question.

“What question?”

“What do you mean by failure?” She raised her head and stared at him, her blue eyes unblinking and mystified, eyebrows drawn together. “Why does your father think that of you and why do you believe it?”

Puck frowned. “Look, Sabrina-”

“No,” she said, interrupting him. Her gaze was hard and determined, not that he would expect anything less from Sabrina Grimm. She was so stubborn. “I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to tell me you don’t want to talk about it. Well, we’re going to.”

Puck turned to look out the window, unable to look her in the eye. If he looked at her, he wouldn’t be able to get the words out. “Fine. You want to know so bad? Then I’ll tell you. From the time I was four my father told me that I was a huge letdown of a son. A disappointment, and that I’d never ‘carry on the family business’ or whatever. Not that it mattered anyway, because he’s currently running it into the ground. He may care about what he does, but it’s not enough. And he certainly doesn’t care about me.”

It was silent again, but the silence was far from comfortable this time around. It felt awkward, and suffocating, and he took a shaky breath, feeling anxiety swell in his chest. He’d never confronted the issue that was his dad before, much less actually talked about it with someone. His eyes welled with unshed tears.

Sabrina placed her hand on Puck’s arm. It felt different from when Moth did it; warmer and good natured, and not at all controlling. It was a hesitant touch, as if she wasn’t sure it was wanted or helpful. He found himself leaning into it rather than shaking her off.

“Puck,” she whispered under her breath, and he turned her head toward her. She had leaned closer, bringing them only inches apart. “You are not a failure. Sure, you’re stupid and arrogant, but you’re good at plenty other things. You don’t exist to please your father.”

He searched her eyes for any sign of a lie, but her eyes told the cold, hard truth, as they always did; Sabrina was a brutally honest person, most times. And it dawned on him. Maybe she was right.

Maybe…

His eyes skimmed down her face to her lips before looking back up. She was still staring at him expectantly, waiting for him to say something. Instead, he began to lean forward just the slightest bit, without thinking. Maybe—

“Puck? Are you up there?” someone called from below the treehouse. Puck froze and then backtracked, jerking away. It was his brother, Mustardseed.

Scowling, he stood and peered down at his brother. “What do you want?”

“Ma says that you need to come in. Dinner’s ready.”

“I guess that's our cue, huh?” Sabrina said, running her fingers through her hair nervously. She wouldn’t look at him, and Puck’s heart sank all the way down to his feet, down, down, beneath the tree.

“I guess so,” he sighed, slumping.

Maybe not.

* * *

 Dinner was already an awkward affair, and it had only just begun. Sabrina was delighted at the perfectly normal meal that she was served, thanking Titania so much that the woman turned red and laughed sheepishly until she began to modestly refuse the praise. And she never turned down praise.

Sabrina had taken the seat next to Puck, with Mustardseed between them at the head of the table. Puck sat next to his father and Titania sat across from him. It was the usual set up, despite the fact that Mustardseed typically sat in Sabrina’s seat.

Puck hated family dinners.

“So,” Oberon grunted, stabbing his meat with his fork. “Why haven’t you told us that you had a girlfriend, Robin? You know very well that’s not how we raised you, and I am highly disappointed in your lack of communication wi—”

“They aren’t dating, honey,” Titania stage-whispered, laying her hand on his.

“Well, why not?” he said, turning to look at Puck. “You talk about this girl all the time. I figured you’d be engaged by now.”

Puck scowled at his father. Sabrina looked quite pink as well, practically choking on her water.

“Give it a rest Oberon,” Puck's mother chided, in an attempt to shut down the conversation.

He grumbled in response, but didn’t bring it up again.

* * *

After dinner, Sabrina was collecting her things from Puck’s room and he was busy doing the dishes when his parents cornered him at the kitchen sink. He should have known not to leave her side; he should have seen this coming.

“We approve!” Titania beamed, bringing her son into another soul-sucking hug. He hissed and squirmed, desperate to escape his mother's clutches, but she managed to lay several loud kisses on his cheeks.

“Of what?” he cried, wondering why approval meant being assailed.

“The girl,” Oberon said, frowning. “Quiet, but polite. You need to man up and ask her out already, son.”

Puck groaned.

* * *

The sun was long gone, having sunk below the horizon far before they left Puck's house. The drive had been quiet, an awkward air between the two of them since the events at Puck's house. Sabrina still wouldn't look him in the eye, and he wasn't sure if it was because of the awkwardness of his family or the awkwardness of how close their faces had gotten. He didn't blame her; it spooked him too.

The music softly playing on the radio was the only sound inside the car, the local radio station crooning a slow song at a low volume. The September moon shone through the windshield and cast light over the two of them, briefly illuminated by Ferryport Landing's few streetlights before plunging deeper into the forest. Her hair gleamed in the soft light.

Puck pulled into the Grimm house's driveway, idling the car. The song ended and a new one started up, "Eighteen" by Pale Waves. He'd heard it before on this station, but he'd never really payed attention to the lyrics.

I was eighteen when I met you  
Poured my heart out, spilt all my truth  
 _I finally felt like I could feel for the first time  
_ When I met you

"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, huh?" Puck said, staring out the windshield at the small house in front of him. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, then reached over and turned the music off. Silence filled the car.

"I guess so," Sabrina replied, but she didn't move from her seat. He could hear her fidgeting with the strap of her backpack, and felt her eyes on him as he stared intently at the front door of the house. The awkwardness of the silence washed over them, if for but a brief moment. Then, Sabrina leaned over and gave him a small sideways hug with both arms before fleeing from the car and slamming the door shut. She jogged to the house but paused in the doorway to wave.

Puck's face nearly split in half, his smile was so wide. On the way home, he turned the music back on, and then up, up, up.

 _I could stay by your side all night  
_ _Baby, it's just you and me and that's fine_

* * *

 

He couldn’t sleep.

It was midnight, and he had spent several hours tossing and turning as he attempted to float off to dreamland or whatever. So far, he’d had no luck. All he could think about was Sabrina and her stupid, beautiful face.

Stupid pretty dumb beautiful blue eyes.

Closing his eyes, Puck attempted to go to sleep, only to jump as his phone buzzed from where it sat on his nightstand. Wondering who the hell was texting him at midnight, he quickly grabbed his phone and squinted at the bright screen.

**Grimm**

> _I still have your jacket._

  
Puck blushed at the thought of her curled up with his jacket at midnight, texting him. Without replying, he tossed his phone back onto his nightstand and curled up with Kraven the Deceiver.

It wasn’t long before he was dreaming about long blonde hair and startling, intelligent blue eyes.

* * *

 _Move with these eyes, live a life_  
 _Untouched by time_  
 _I'll be waiting in the wings_ _  
I'll be here when you arrive_


	2. October

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No spoilers for this chapter but this is still a non-magic AU, anything that seems like magic is just… dreams. I’m also a big fan of hinting at canon and such through dreams and such, so it’s not meant to be interpreted as magic. 
> 
> Okay also. Um. I am so sorry for being four months late. I had this like half done for about three months but I wasn't really happy with it. I'm still not but I don't feel like redoing it so. Here.
> 
> Edit 2/15/17: So, even after editing this chapter, I’m still not super satisfied with it. It feels… awkward, but I don’t feel like ripping the story apart by the seams yet so. I’ll do something about that later. In the meantime, do any of you feel that it the progression of Puck and Sabrina’s friendship is awkward? Or is that just me.
> 
> Enjoy; feedback is highly appreciated!

 

**Chapter Two — I Know I’m A Wolf (Young Heretics)**

 

 _Rabbit my claws are dull now so don't be afraid_   
_I could keep you warm as long as you can just try to be brave_   
_Yes I know I'm a wolf and I've been known to bite_ _  
_But the rest of my pack, I have left them behind

 

**October**

**Part 1 (Saturday, October 4th, 2014) – Sabrina**

That morning, Sabrina woke to the loud bang of her bedroom door slamming against the wall as it was thrown open. Blinking blearily as her heart raced from her sudden awakening, she spared a glance at her alarm clock and felt a part of her soul wither and die.

7:02 a.m. On a _Saturday_.

"Wakie wakie! Today's the day!" Daphne cried as Sabrina rose up on her elbows, muttering and groaning to herself. She blinked and tried to clear the sleep from her eyes, still terribly exhausted, and threw an arm over her eyes to shield them from the sudden light. Keeping her eyes closed, she wondered if she could just wish it all away, or that if she stayed still, Daphne might give up. Unfortunately, her dreams were shattered (quite literally) as Daphne climbed onto her bed and tossed Sabrina’s limp arm to the side. She began shaking Sabrina's shoulders.

Sabrina pushed Daphne's hands away, scowling up at her sister. "You mean Saturday? I was looking forward to sleeping in, you know. It’s only 7."

"No, silly! Today's the day we decorate for Halloween!" Daphne shrugged off her comment easily, as if Sabrina had gotten enough sleep and she’d been waiting for her to wake up and just got impatient. Which, Sabrina wouldn’t put it past her. "You _do_ remember Granny telling us that, right?"

 _No._ "Yes, of course."

"Then get up!" Daphne jumped off Sabrina’s bed and hit the wood floor with a heavy thud. She flashed Sabrina a triumphant, yet insistent, grin.

“Why are we even decorating yet? It’s barely October…” Sabrina muttered, sitting up fully. Her mind was still clouded from sleep and she had to prop herself up on her hands. It seemed pretty ridiculous that they were decorating this early.

“‘Cause,” Daphne replied, as if that was a perfectly acceptable answer to Sabrina’s question. And then she fled from the room so quickly that, to Sabrina's sleep heavy eyes, she seemed to blur, like a small, female, and overly excited Flash. Sabrina wondered where she got all that energy from, and why Sabrina had pulled the short end of the stick.

Sighing and resigning to her fate, Sabrina dragged herself out of bed and lazily got dressed. As she pulled on a long sleeved white shirt, a pair of jeans, and mismatched socks with her white high-tops, she mourned the loss of her precious sleep time. She also pulled on a grey cardigan and left Puck’s hoodie tangled in her sheets, where it had ended up the night before, stuffed halfway beneath her pillow and half twisted in her comforter.

Surprisingly, he didn’t mind that she’d kept a hold of it, and even wore it more often than not when finding a clean sweater or jacket in the morning was too much hassle after just waking up. In fact, even when she returned it (and then stupidly forgot her jacket the next day out of habit from wearing his, which happened more than she would like to admit; at least twice) he would still offer it. The best part? It always smelled like him.

Not that she'd admit that. Out loud. Or at all. Ever.

In fact, she never thought about it at all. Didn't happen. Nope.

Even so… Sabrina also didn’t really want to admit that the stupid idiot had become the closest thing she had to a best friend in this tiny town. Sure, Penelope from chemistry class was nice (almost suspiciously so), Bella was a good friend, and Charlotte was cool (if a bit intense…) but they didn't share what Puck and Sabrina had. What that was, she honestly wasn't sure yet.

She didn’t know if she wanted to find out.

Speaking of Puck, maybe he could save her from the tortuous day ahead of her. Excited at the thought of escaping the laborious day ahead of her, she shot him a text as she headed downstairs to the dining room for breakfast.

**  
Sabrina**

_ > Granny is forcing us to decorate for Halloween. Can you come pick me up or something? _

  
Slipping her phone into her pocket to wait out a reply, Sabrina glanced over the food set out on the table. Gold waffles with silvery syrup and thankfully normal orange juice. She managed to eat one of the waffles but refused the syrup, and she drank three cups of orange juice like it was going out of style. When Sabrina didn't get an answer from the Trickster King by the end of breakfast, she realized he was probably still asleep, as he often was at this hour. Even at school. _Especially_ at school, at least when he wasn’t bombarding her with texts during class.

Looks like she'd have to continuously call him until he picked up instead. Clearly that was the only solution.

As she was leaving to go back to her room and call Puck, Granny called out after her. "Oh, _liebling_ , don't take too long! We have to get to decorating as soon as possible if we want to be finished by tonight."

"Sure thing Granny," Sabrina replied, cringing to herself at the idea of them taking the entire day to decorate. She took the stairs two at a time; if decorating was supposedly going to take all day, she was all the more eager to get out of it. She had already dialed Puck's number by the time she got to her room. He predictably didn't pick up the first time, or the second. But third time's a charm, as they say.

" _Grimm? Why the hell are you calling me at the asscrack of dawn? You woke me up from my beauty sleep._ " Puck's voice floated through the phone, heavy with sleep and groggy. Luckily, he didn't sound irritated, merely confused. " _You better be dying or something._ "

“Yeah, I've been stabbed,” she said in monotone, sinking into the armchair in the corner of her room and gazing out the window at the early morning sky. “I need to be rushed to the hospital immediately.”

“ _What?_ ” he exclaimed, and she could hear him sit up in bed so quickly that there was a quick rustle of sheets and a thump. He groaned, and she suspected he’d fallen out of bed in his haste. She snickered.

"No, I'm fine. Plus, idiot, it's not the asscrack of dawn, it's hardly 7:30," she replied, frowning at the reminder of the time. "Listen, I don’t want to be up this early either but Granny is making us decorate for Halloween today and I really don't want to. Can you pick me up? We can go hang out in the hub instead. Or the park. Or like, anywhere but here."

The hub was the large treehouse in Puck's forested backyard. The two of them spent a large amount of time there together, either studying and doing homework or planning malicious schemes against other students and family members; Puck’s far more malicious than her simple pranks or jokes. They had just begun refurbishing it as well as the treehouses connected to it, but the main treehouse was their pride and joy.

There was silence at the other end, followed by an exasperated sigh. “ _I dunno how the old lady would feel about that. As much as I love playing hooky, you spend practically all of your time with me anyway; maybe she's just trying to get some quality family time in? That's why you're in Ferryport Landing, right?_ "

"I guess," Sabrina mumbled as she felt a guilty pang surge through her. She hadn't thought about it that way. And here she was, trying to get away from family she cared so much about but barely knew, who was just trying to spend the day with her. Puck was right, and even if it was surprising that he was making such a good point, it was just that: a good point. "Okay, fine. I'll do it. Sorry for calling and waking you up."

She was about to hang up without saying goodbye when he hastily replied. " _Wait, wait! I'll still come over or whatever. Um… if you want, that is. I’m sure the old lady would love an extra set of hands._ "

Pausing, a small grin tugged at her lips. "Sure thing, but expect to be put to work, monkey boy."

She hung up before he could get a word in edgewise, knowing that it would just be complaints and reminders of his so called 'allergies' (which was horseshit and Sabrina knew it; there was no conceivable way that he could be allergic to books or hard work). It seems she’d get to do both then, and despite waking up so early, she was feeling considerably better.

Feeling a lot more confident about the day now that her kinda-sorta-maybe-not best friend was coming, Sabrina shoved her phone into her pocket and strode back downstairs, ready to face the day.

* * *

Half an hour later, Puck finally arrived. Sabrina had been precariously perched on a pile of thick books on top of a desk in the corner of the living room hanging the last of the cobwebs and sticking fake (but scarily realistic) spiders in them when the doorbell rang.

"Got it!" Sabrina shouted at the top of her lungs, startling Elvis, who had been asleep next to the fireplace. He sat up, looking around in confusion and alarm, only to whine when nothing was taking place. In her haste to get to the door, she nearly fell from her stack of books and knocked a painting of a long dead relative off the wall. “Sorry,” she told it.

She flung the door open and was greeted with the sight of Puck in his dirty green pullover and a pair of probably just as dirty jeans. His shoes were caked with mud and fallen leaves of all shades, from yellow to red, hinting at the forest walks that she knew he liked to make every day. And, to her surprise, his hair was damp and he smelled faintly of soap (though his earthy smell still remained, clinging to him in a way that never seemed to fade).

"Hey," he said, raising a hand in greeting and then shoving past her without ceremony, looking around the entryway. "I thought you said you guys were decorating. You must be horrible at it, because so far this place looks no different. In fact, I'd say it looks less scary. There’s no way you could get this dollhouse to look like a haunted mansion anyway. The old woman’s too sweet for that."

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "We've only just gotten started, duh. Besides, we're working on the living room right now, but Uncle Jake took Daphne to go get extra cobwebs because we ran out and Granny is decorating her bedroom while they're gone. Anyway, you can come help me."

She grabbed his wrist and practically dragged him to the living room, where she had been decorating for the past half-hour since they’d gotten off the phone. Cobwebs hung in every corner with different kinds of plastic spiders in them, books were fitted with fake covers that displayed titles like ' _Cooking for Flesh-eating Ghouls_ ' and ' _Tales from Down Under: The Spirit's Guide to the Underworld_ ', their small TV had a skull sitting on top of it, and pumpkins sat on the fireplace mantle. The lights were dimmed, giving an ominous feel to the room.

"Whoa," Puck said in awe, glancing around. "When did your living room become something out of _Scary Godmother_?"

Sabrina gave him a funny look, trying to ignore the pride that swells in her chest. That movie had been her favorite as a child. "I told you we were decorating. You need to work on your listening skills."

Puck rolled his eyes. "Duh, I knew that. I just didn't think that the old lady would go all out this year. She used to when I was a kid and everything, but she didn't last year. Probably because she’s been living alone or something."

Sabrina shrugged, feeling a sad feeling for her Grandmother arise in her chest, suddenly glad that she was here in Ferryport Landing instead of back in Manhattan. The idea of Granny all alone made her heart hurt, especially when she was so happy to have them around.

The two approached the window, where her next task was to hang up a pair of curtains. They were blood red and covered with black lace, resembling something right out of _The Addams Family_. After they were hung, Sabrina needed to put up window decals, and then the room would be finished.

Together, they got to work, turning the living room into the ultimate haunt.

* * *

Two hours later, Uncle Jake and Daphne got home with a lot more decorations than just fake cobwebs, and Uncle Jake looked like he had just seen a ghost; Sabrina suspected he was just spooked by Daphne’s keen shopping skills. By then, Sabrina and Puck had completely finished the living room and moved onto other rooms.

In the dining room, they replaced the normal green checkered table cloth with a black one embroidered with pumpkins, ghosts, and skeletons that Granny had made when Sabrina’s dad was a kid. More window decals and curtains went up, bats hung from the ceiling (as well as a skeleton) and candelabras were placed on the table. They took the fresh sunflowers from the vase on the middle of the table and filled it with orange and black roses that Granny prepared for them.

Just as they were finishing, Puck had taken two of the roses and presented them to Sabrina, citing one of his lines as Romeo from _Romeo and Juliet_ with a cocky grin. Sabrina had, in response, snatched them from his hand and returned them to the vase. She couldn't hide the fire creeping over her cheeks, though, as she socked him in the arm while he laughed.

After they finished in the dining room, they found themselves with Granny in the kitchen, helping her change the light fixture so that the light would be orange and the kitchen would be bathed in an orange tint. The warm light was actually fairly soothing to Sabrina, though the orange tint was a bit severe.

"Look what we got Granny!" Daphne cried as she ran into the kitchen, holding a giant plastic raven over her head. Uncle Jake trailed lethargically after her, placing several plastic bags full of Halloween things on the counter.

"That's wonderful, _liebling_ ," Granny smiled. "Would you like to put it on the fireplace mantle with the pumpkins?"

Daphne nodded eagerly and raced from the room to complete her task as Uncle Jake spoke up. "Well, that certainly was a trip I'll never forget," he said, blinking as he tried to rid his brain of the memory. Sabrina imagined Daphne dragging him all across the store by his trench coat, describing in detail the gruesome decoration plans she had as he tried not to throw up.

Granny laughed and turned to Sabrina and Puck. "Will you two take care of the outside? I know it's a big task, but Jake and Daphne will help me finish the rest of the inside. Once you're done, we can work on getting some dinner made!"

"Sure thing, Granny," Sabrina nodded, grabbing Puck's wrist and tugging in their universal ‘ _let’s go, idio_ t’ move. "C'mon fairy boy, let's work."

She carted Puck outside with his arms full of the outside decorations, tuning out his complaints about his (fake) 'allergies' acting up.

* * *

An hour into decorating the exterior of the house, Sabrina sat and slumped against the tree rooted in their front yard to take a break. Her fingers were frozen and red from the cold autumn air, and she felt like they were going to fall off. Even when she tried to warm them up with her breath, they remained cold. Which sucked, because they still had at least half an hour more of decorating before they were done.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Puck asked, dropping down next to her with a thump. Leaves fluttered around in his wake, resettling onto the ground. "You're not trying to saddle me with the rest of the work, are you?"

Sabrina sent him a glare, pulling her hands inside the sleeves of her sweater. "No. I need to take a break. My hands are really cold…" she trailed off, rubbing them together in a desperate attempt to warm them up.

"Give 'em here," Puck said, holding his hands out. Warily, Sabrina set her hands (still balled up inside her sweater sleeves) into his. Puck rolled his eyes and pulled her hands out of her sleeves and set them on his neck.

Which was weird.

But also nice? His neck was crazy warm (or maybe she was so cold that she was close to death). It was mystifying how he managed to stay so warm after being outside so long. Blushing, she looked away, keeping her hands stiff and motionless. "How the hell are you so warm?"

"Runs in the family, I guess," he chuckled, and Sabrina nearly jumped. She could feel his neck vibrate when he talked. It was an odd feeling, and she couldn’t help the laugh that burst out of her at the feeling.

Looking over at him, she scrutinized his face. He had twinkling green eyes that almost always held mischievousness, but Sabrina had seen a whole other side to him; something softer, and more vulnerable. She had seen that mask of humor drop before. It was nice, knowing that she was probably the only person to do that.

Being close friends with him, no matter how annoying he could be, was… pretty great. Despite his gross exterior, he could be a really good friend.

After she could feel her fingers again, she pulled her hands away, her cheeks still warming from the touch. "Thanks. We should probably get back to work, though."

Puck sighed, and Sabrina swore that it was almost wistful. "Yeah, back to the grind, I guess."

* * *

About forty-five minutes later, the outside of the house was finally finished. Graves were planted with hands sprouting from them, skeletons hung from the tree, and orange fairy lights were strung up around the house. All in all, a massive success. It had taken a bit longer than planned once Puck started chasing Sabrina around the yard and throwing mushy balls of leaves at her, which had devolved into a leaf-ball fight, but they managed to get it done regardless.

By the time they were done messing around, Sabrina's hands were back to feeling like ice. The two teenagers hurried inside, where they found the rest of their family sitting at the dining room table.

"Oh, just in time!" Granny pointed to two fresh mugs of hot chocolate, complete with marshmallow ghosts floating in them. A plate of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies sat in the middle of the table, and Uncle Jake and Daphne had already stolen some of them. "I was about to call you both in."

Sabrina smiled with relief at the normal drink and took a grateful sip. It had a slight cinnamon aftertaste and the room smelled heavily of pumpkin, but it was a delightful treat. It didn't do much for her poor hands, though, only warming them as much as a warm mug could.

"Now that you're both here, I'd like to discuss something," Granny said, her face settling into a grim expression, one that looked strange on her otherwise cheerful person. Sabrina’s heart dropped, and she set down her mug anxiously, listening intently. "I got a call ten minutes ago from a good friend of mine, Mr. Hamstead, the police chief. It seems as if he has a case for us. As soon as you can get your coats on, we're going to go investigate the scene of the crime."

Sabrina had to admit, she actually got a little excited at the idea of a mystery. When Granny had told them about the family business, she wasn’t sure they’d actually be allowed to help out, but it seemed that she was just as enthused to have them participate in solving the crime. Daphne squealed, biting her palm. "What is it? A robbery? A missing person or pet?"

Granny's eyes dropped to the table sadly, and with it Sabrina’s heart sank. "Oh, I'm afraid not, _liebling_. What we're dealing with is a murder."

* * *

The hunk of junk that served as the family car was, for the first time, silent. Every now and then, the car would let out a sequel of protest, but otherwise the five people and one dog in the car remained quiet. A sense of dread had settled over the family. Sabrina wasn’t feeling excited anymore after Granny’s announcement, and she got the sense everyone else felt the same.

As much as she was excited to work on a case, she hadn’t expected it to be a murder, especially not in a fairly close-knit community like this one. It was a little overwhelming, and extremely heartbreaking.

What felt like an eternity later, Uncle Jake pulled up to the crime scene. It was located in a small house, right near the edge of town, close to the train tracks. There weren’t any other houses grouped nearby; the nearest neighbor was a block away. The house was covered in peeling powder blue paint and broken yellow shutters hung from the windows. The plot that the house sat on was surrounded by yellow caution tape, and a police car sat on the side of the road. Mr. Hamstead stood waiting for them at the edge of the scene.

Uncle Jake killed the engine and the family stepped out of the car.

"Relda, I'm so glad you're here," Hamstead said, wringing his hands. He frowned and lifted the tape, allowing the family to step onto the lawn. It was yellow and decaying, sprouting with weeds and covered with junk, such as broken patio chairs and an old dog leash. The pavement of the walkway was cracked and uneven and dandelions were growing out of them.

"Of course, Ernest. It's the least I could do." Granny smiled warmly and then motioned to the house. "What can you tell me?"

"Forensics tells me the victim is female, around the age of 17. House shows signs forced entry and a heavy struggle. No suspects are currently determined; I questioned her mother and it's unlikely that she was behind it, as she has an alibi. We won't know anything more until the tests get back, but it's also unlikely that they will help. They're more of a precautionary measure."

“Why don’t you girls stay out here for now, _lieblings_ ,” Granny says. Her eyes look watery and worn when she smiled, and the two girls nod. Puck stays back with them as Mr. Hamstead opens the door for the family, and the rest of them filed in.

“We’ve been sidelined,” Daphne pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. “I thought we were working on the case too?”

“We could peek inside?” Sabrina suggested, shrugging. Daphne’s eyes lit up and the two girls peeked into the house through the doorway, still standing in the doorway. Immediately, Sabrina can see why Granny wanted to keep them out.

Sabrina couldn't tear her eyes away from it. Her. The body. She… wasn’t sure what to call the corpse laid out against the wall, eyes open and lifeless, glazed over with death. She didn't even notice how the house was a mess of broken glass and ripped up couch cushions, tipped picture frames and lamps. All she could see was the girl, lying against the wall with a heavy cleaver sticking out of her chest. The wound was still fresh; couldn't have happened more than an hour earlier, by her estimate.

The worst part of the ordeal? Sabrina _recognized_ her.

They had gone to school together. Sabrina never explicitly knew her, but she saw the girl around the halls all the time, sitting alone at lunch, or crouched in the library pulling books from the shelves. They exchanged words sometimes, but otherwise the girl was quiet and always unaccompanied, and she seemed to like it that way. And she wouldn't be there anymore, reading in the corner or smiling quietly.

She was gone.

Sabrina felt devastated. There must have been something she could have done, right? Maybe she should have made more of an effort to include her, to go out of her way to talk to her. Maybe invited her to lunch once in awhile. But now…

It was Puck that broke her out of her stupor.

"Hey," he whispered to her, putting a hand on her arm. He hadn’t seen the body, hadn’t looked through the doorway, just stood next to the girls on the porch. Sabrina was thankful he wasn't drawing too much attention to her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said, but her voice shook. She backed away from the door, unable to meet Daphne’s tearful gaze as her sister also stepped away. It was an unconvincing, pathetic attempt. "I'm fine."

He must have sensed her lie, though, because he gave her a doubtful look and then did the most un-Puck-like thing in the history of un-Puck-like things. He hugged her. He actually wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, her face going into his chest. She breathed in the smell of the forest deeply as tears clouded her eyes.

Alright, maybe it wasn’t that unrealistic; clearly he had some sort of soft side. Nevertheless, it still took her by surprise.

She wrapped her arms around him as well, burying her face in his chest (why was he so tall?) and allowed herself to just calm down and breathe in his earthy scent. He rubbed her back, ran his fingers through her hair. It was an intimate show of affection and comfort, and as much as Sabrina was disgusted by him and his dirty sweatshirt and lack of manners and wanted to push him away, she… needed it. That if she didn't allow it to happen, she'd probably cry. And there was no way she was going to let that happen.

“I knew her,” Sabrina mumbled into his chest, and his arms tightened around her. She felt his chin press to the top of her head, hand gliding across her back, rubbing circles idly, distracting her from the reality of the next room.

Puck stayed silent. She wasn’t sure if he didn’t know what to say or just didn’t want to ruin the quiet comfort, but she was grateful all the same. He didn’t speak when he released her, only lightly tugged on her sweater sleeve. She let Puck lead her away from the horrifying scene just within the threshold of the home, glass crunching underfoot as they went back towards the sidewalk.

Together, they sat on the cracked pavement and picked weeds out of the concrete. With their legs pressed together, Sabrina picked apart dandelions and dropped them at their feet. She felt safe next to him, but her stomach continued to churn.

* * *

After they finished at the scene of the crime, the five of them gathered in Briar Rose's coffee shop with mugs of hot chocolate and coffee. Briar sat with them, her hand resting on Uncle Jake's, her lips pulled downwards in a concerned frown.

Sabrina was still shaken from seeing the girl, and she couldn't get the image out of her head no matter how hard she tried. That, and the red hand print on the wall next to the girl's head, dripping and fresh. It had probably been her blood. Her face must have twisted in an expression of horror, because Puck gave her a small nudge and worried look. He was sitting next to her, giving her similar looks every few seconds. She pretended not to notice.

"What was up with that hand print?" Daphne asked, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. She didn't seem as upset as Sabrina, but she knew that Daphne would be by to brush her hair that night. Daphne may have grown a lot since they were kids, but she was still quite young at heart. It was one of the things Sabrina loved about her sister. "Is that supposed to mean something?"

"Well, _liebling_ , we're not quite sure yet," Granny replied, bleakly taking a sip of her coffee. She’d had a worried look in her eyes ever since they got the call. "This is the first instance of a red hand print that Ernest has heard of. It looks like we'll just have to keep our eyes peeled and our ears to the ground."

Daphne, unsatisfied with this answer, slumped down in her seat, clearly defeated. Sabrina was not going to have it, though. She slammed her hand down on the table, expression fierce, startling everyone around her, especially Puck, who nearly choked on his pumpkin cookie.

"No," she said, voice as hard as steel, surprising herself with its force. "That's not good enough. There's got to be something we can do. We can't just sit here and wait while more people get murdered!"

"Sabrina, there are multiple reasons the hand print could have been there," Uncle Jake spoke up. "The girl could have made it during her struggle, the killer might be making a threat, or something else. But we won't know for a while. We have to do research; that's the only way we'll get closer to finding out the truth. We'll get all the information we can from the scene and conduct research, and only then will we get any closer to figuring this out."

Her lip shook, but she managed to hide it behind her hot chocolate. Uncle Jake had a point "Okay."

Puck shot her another concerned glance, but stayed silent as the discussion of clues continued.

* * *

Two hours later, the Grimm family (plus one Puck and one Briar) returned to their home and gathered around the kitchen table for a late dinner. Granny rushed around the kitchen, quickly whipping up some sandwiches and lemonade while the rest of the gang grouped around the dining table.

During their stay at the coffee shop, they discussed what they had seen at the house. They didn't have much to go on, though. Mostly just the hand print and anything that forensics could tell them about DNA on the scene. The rest was conjecture, though clearly there was a struggle. The killer was out there.

The group ate silently, though Sabrina pushed her plate away and only had a few sips of her purple lemonade. It's not that she didn't want food, it was just too weird for her to process at the moment. She was glad for the blueberry muffin she'd had at the coffee shop.  After dinner, Granny announced that they should put a rest to the case for the night. It would do no good to dwell when there was no work to be done.

Sabrina retreated to her room, Puck and Daphne following behind her. The three of them sat on her bed, Puck next to her and Daphne behind her with the brush.

"It's 8:00," Sabrina said, glancing at Puck as Daphne ran the brush through her long blonde hair. "Don't your parents want you home?"

He shrugged and smirked at her, leaning back on his hands. "Who cares what they think? I live on the edge, Grimm."

Sabrina raised an eyebrow in his direction as he lowered further, dropping down to lay back on the bed. “Won’t your dad get mad?”

"Nah, it'll be fine. He's probably too busy running his business into the ground to notice that I'm gone. Besides, I'll just crash here." Sabrina opened her mouth to argue as Daphne inhaled sharply with excitement, but he interrupted before they could speak. "Hey, it’s fine, okay? You obviously need a friend right now."

"I have Daphne," she mumbled, and Puck looked momentarily hurt by the rebuttal. Daphne 'accidentally' tugged too hard with the brush, pulling Sabrina's hair. She winced. "I mean, thanks."

His face lit up in a smile, but Sabrina went on before he could get too excited. "I'll have you know that I still don't need protecting. I can take care of myself."

"Of course you can," he chuckled. "You're Sabrina Grimm. But I saw how seeing that girl made you feel, and well, everyone needs to have a friend around from time to time anyway. You can protect yourself, I know that, but I’m here anyway. Now let's get this party started, shall we?"

Sabrina rolled her eyes.

* * *

"This is the coolest thing ever," Sabrina said, staring in awe at their creation from the inside. Together, Sabrina and Puck had collected all of the spare blankets in the house and turned Sabrina's room into a giant blanket fort. They sat together on Sabrina's bed, a canopy of blankets above and underneath them, orange fairy lights left over from decorating strung around the inside. Between them sat a bowl of popcorn and a DVD player rested on the pillows in front of them.

Daphne had deserted them after she finished with Sabrina's hair, winking and slamming the door shut behind her. _Traitor_ , Sabrina had thought.

"I knew we could do it," Puck said triumphantly. "Now let's watch a movie already. I need some Pirates of the Caribbean in my life desperately.”

They sat shoulder to shoulder and draped a blanket across their laps, reciting lines from memory. Puck played the roles of Jack and Will while Sabrina voiced for Elizabeth and Barbossa. Halfway through the second movie, they had a sword fight with the wooden swords they found in Puck's treehouse two weeks earlier, knocking the popcorn over onto the floor.

Three movies and several hours later left them at midnight with an empty popcorn bowl and a gigantic mess. Sabrina's ribs hurt from laughing and her cheeks were sore, the afternoon’s grievances pushed from her mind.

"We should probably go to bed now, Grimm," Puck said, setting his sword aside.

"Okay, sure. But we have to clean all this up first."

Puck made a fake gagging noise and Sabrina smacked him with her sword. He hit the floor with a groan, and they dissolved into laughter as Sabrina tried to shush him.

* * *

After all the blankets had been safely stowed away and the spilled popcorn was cleaned up, Puck departed from Sabrina's room to go crash on the couch in the living room, which left Sabrina alone with her thoughts.

She pulled off her day clothes and tugged on a pair of grey sweats and a white tank top. She also pulled on Puck's hoodie, cherishing it for the small amount of comfort it brought her. That, and it was starting to get pretty cold at night.

Climbing under the covers, she replayed the events of that day in her head until she drifted off to sleep.

Regrettably so.

* * *

_Why am I back here? Sabrina thought, looking at the peeling blue paint of the small house where a girl had been murdered earlier that day. The sun was barely setting over the horizon, unlike the way it had been that afternoon, and Sabrina realized she must be dreaming._

_A small creak caught her attention, and her eyes jumped to the front door._

_It was wide open._

_Warily, Sabrina stepped towards the door and frowned. She moved like she was in jelly, or walking through water. Everything felt mushy and as if it was pushing against her, and the world blurred in front of her before focusing again._

_It felt like hours by the time she made it to the door._

_The house was the same way it had been earlier, when she had taken a peek inside through the doorway. Glass crunched under her feet, and even though she was just in socks and her pajamas, it didn't hurt. The only difference was the other person, if you could call it that._

_A form stood over the poor girl's corpse, staring down at her. It had inky, pitch black skin and blood red hair cascading over its shoulders, as red as the hand print had been. Sabrina sucked in a shocked breath and froze when the thing's head starting to turn towards her. The body didn't move as its head turned, clicking and pausing every now and then until it was turned completely around._

" _Free me," it croaked. The voice itself echoed within the room and seemed to come from every direction. Sabrina whirled around, and upon finding nothing behind her, she turned back only to have her voice hitch in her throat._

_The creature was hardly a foot from her. She tried to scream, but her voice failed her._

_Raising its hand, Sabrina noticed how its palms were blood red and dripping. The monster pressed it against her forehead before she could move, hissing._

_Its hand burned her like scorching hot water, and she screamed at the top of her lungs in anguish._

* * *

Disoriented and scared, Sabrina jolted awake to Puck groggily shaking her shoulder. She scrambled away from him in fear, her mind still caught up in the dream, only calming when he spoke her name.

"Sabrina," he whispered, his voice heavy with sleep. Clearly he’d just woken up himself, and she hoped that she hadn’t actually screamed. "Wake up."

“Mm?" she squinted at him in the dark, keeping one eye closed. He was standing over her, looking down at her worriedly. The moonlight filtering in from her bedroom window highlighted his features, making his curls look like spun gold. "What?"

"You were having a nightmare."

She blinked and took a shaky breath. Her forehead throbbed from where that… thing had touched her, and her heart was racing with adrenaline. She rubbed her forehead quickly, and pulled her hand back to look at it, relieved when it came back clean. "Yeah, I was. I'm sorry."

"Hey, don't apologize," he replied. He lifted the covers slightly and paused, waiting for her approval. When she gave a drowsy nod of consent, he climbed under the covers with her and pulled her close. She turned on her side and buried her face in his chest, taking deep breaths.

This was the most intimate thing they’d ever done. They weren’t exactly overly affectionate in their friendship, and being close like this wasn’t something she was sure she wanted… until now. She had to admit, the relief of crawling into his arms after the dream she just had made it feel okay. She felt safe.

Her shoulders shook with tears that were unable to come out, and Puck simply stayed silent and rubbed her back. He seemed to know that she didn't want to talk about it, and only held her close. He ran his fingers through her hair, and it was so like Daphne brushing her hair that she was instantly lulled into security.

"Thanks, Puck," she whispered, her voice muffled by his t-shirt. He didn't reply, but he didn't have to. She was already slipping back into sleep, feeling protected and calm. The position was close and personal, almost uncomfortably so, but it was just what Sabrina needed. Within minutes, the steady beat of Puck's heart lulled her to sleep.

This time, she dreamt of crooked smirks and green sweatshirts.

 

**Part 2 (Friday, October 24th, 2014) – Puck**

"Hey, it's Friday!" Puck cheered as Sabrina climbed into his car that morning, shoving his bag to the floor and taking its place like she did every morning. She grabbed the green hoodie from Puck's lap, as she was accustomed to doing nearly every morning at this point. Even on days she didn’t wear it, it was there for her. "You know what that means?"

"It means that tomorrow we don't have school and we can sleep in," she replied in a deadpan voice, likely already knowing what he was going to say. She slipped the hoodie on and zipped it up halfway over the grey flannel and white t-shirt she wore underneath, and he had to keep himself from watching her.

"No, stupid, it means that next Friday is Halloween!" He beamed, and she groaned. Of course, he knew that she loved Halloween as much as he did; she just hated hearing about it so much. She knew it was coming, and sure, she was excited, but did they really have to make such a huge deal about it? "And, it also means that I get to spend the night tonight!"

Spending the night at the Grimm household had become a regular activity of Puck's; the old lady was cool with him spending the night usually, but only let him on the weekends because it would 'cut into his study time' or something. Honestly Puck couldn't remember because he hadn't been listening; he only remembered her bringing up school because he nearly vomits at the mere mention of it.

Puck spent every opportunity to spend the night with the Grimms, and any other time really, especially after the tragic death of one of his classmates earlier that month. Sabrina had been the most affected out of the bunch, though she seemed to be getting better as she put her grief into her research instead of dwelling on it. She hadn't had another nightmare since that first night. They didn't often share a bed; he usually slept on the couch in the living room, and only woke up in her bed when they passed out during a movie or something, but when they did Sabrina usually slept with her back to him and pretended like he didn't exist.

It wasn’t weird or anything. Just two friends, sharing a bed, like they do at sleepovers sometimes. That’s all it was. At least, that’s what he told himself.

He actually loved it, sleeping next to her. She looked so at peace when she was asleep, instead of scowling or grumpy like he was used to. And when she would wake up, her eyelids would flutter and then she'd hum and look up at him, stretching. It was so cute that the first time he witnessed it, be thought his heart was going to explode.

Of course, the next thing she would always do involved scowling and pushing him off the bed. That was less cute. Still cute, but less.

"Whoop-de-doo," Sabrina replied, turning up the heat a smidge and shoving her hands underneath her. "Let's just get this show on the road, okay? I don't want to be late."

Puck frowned but relented, pulled away from the Grimm house. "Fine, spoil sport."

She stuck her tongue out at him and smiled.

* * *

School went as it always did, especially the morning classes (which were especially boring due to the lack of Grimm, who he couldn’t antagonize). Homeroom was a bore and he wasn't able to avoid Moth this time around, like he had for a few weeks. She grabbed his arm and wouldn't let go. It was like a death grip, and he swore he heard the bone break a little. He let out a wheeze of pain and tugged it away, without luck.

"Puck," she cooed, drawing out his name. The sound made him want to throw up; it reminded him of pancakes soggy from being drenched in syrup. Gross. "I miss hanging out with you. I feel like it's been _years_ since we last saw each other."

Her hand trailed down his arm, but before she could grab his hand he finally ripped his arm away and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. She looked offended, her eyebrows rising in shock and the corners of her mouth dipping into a frown.

"What do you want, Moth?" he asked coolly. He really didn't want to deal with this right now. Anything but this. _Math_ instead of this. Yeah, that’s right. _Numbers_.

"Well, we don't hang out as much as we used to," she said, grabbing his arm and yanking his hand from his pocket forcefully so that she could hold it in her death grip. He cringed, and stiffened his posture. "I was wondering if you would like to join me for dinner at my mother's house tonight? It would be good for us to reconnect! I feel like we’ve been drifting and it makes me so sad…"

Puck seethed at her terrible listening skills and her inability to take a hint. How many times did  he have to say no before she understood? "No, I will not come have dinner at your house, nor will I have dinner with you in any other establishment. Not now, not ever. Even if I wanted to, I already have plans tonight. Doing something else, not with you."

"With that Grimm girl?" Moth sneered, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the thought of the other girl, her features pinching.

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Puck said, slowly, hoping that this time it would actually get into her head. "Not that that's any of your business."

She gave him a harsh glare and squeezed his hand awfully hard before releasing him. He rubbed his hand carefully, frowning. She didn’t talk to him for the rest of homeroom (even though he didn't make that much of an attempt to start conversation).

The distance between them made him almost sad. Sure, she was terrible and rude, but for a long time, she’d been the only person that Puck had considered to actually be his friend. Now, though, he wasn’t so sure. Well, he was sure that she wasn’t his friend. That felt pretty bad, even if he didn’t like her. Losing a friend never felt good.

Even if she was terrible.

In his second period, Puck had tried to convince Grimm to go see a movie with him and skip school again, but it didn't go that well. You think that after asking continuously for days that she would break down and say yes.

**  
Trickster King**

> _can we please ditch and go see a movi_

> _Movie*_

> _i’ll buy ;)_

**  
Queen of Sneaks**

> _Hmm… As tempting as it sounds…_

> _No._

**  
Trickster King**

> _Pls?_

**  
Queen of Sneaks**

> _Stop texting me._

  
At least lunch was alright. He had brought a lunch from home for once, and traded with Sabrina. She happily munched on regular potato chips and a PB and J sandwich while Puck ate the lunch Granny had prepared for her (a piece of something that looked like fruitcake but tasted like fizzy soda and some purple pear slices).

Over lunch, Sabrina rambled on about the mystery novel she had just finished. Puck listened to  her, even though he didn’t care about books, watching the way her mouth moved as she talked.

If anything was a mystery, it was the feeling that rose inside of him at the sight.

* * *

 "Again!" their theatre teacher cried at Sabrina. "And this time, with more passion!"

Sabrina scowled but repeated her lines, her voice heavy with sickly sarcasm. " _O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?/Deny thy father and refuse thy name/Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love/And I'll no longer be a Capulet_."

The teacher clapped and grinned as Sabrina gave her an incredulous look, having clearly not been passionate at all; Puck hid his snickers behind his hand, eyes darting between the two. "Yes, yes! Just like that! Now, Romeo, your line please."

Puck cleared his throat and spoke his lines to himself as the script directed. " _Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?_ "

" _'Tis but thy name that is my enemy/Thou art thyself, though not a Montague/What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,/Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part/Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!/What's in a name? that which we call_ \- Okay, I can't do this." Sabrina tossed her script down, staring at it’s place at her feet. Puck thought she might burn it just with her stare. "This play is utterly stupid."

The teacher and half the class gasped and held their hands to their hearts as if Sabrina had just told them that she was actually the Boogeyman and then peeled off her skin to prove it. Sabrina gave them all angry and slightly bewildered looks, then looked at Puck with an exoression that said ‘ _can you believe this shit?_ ’.

He shrugged and pulled the collar of his shirt over his mouth to hide his laughs. She glared at him, though the corners of her mouth tugged up into a smile.

"Again, from the top," the teacher said, frowning. "And Juliet, it would be wise to recite your lines correctly, or you could be in danger of failing this class."

Sabrina glared at the teacher and reluctantly picked up her script, and they started again.

* * *

 Next period, they gathered at their table in Chemistry and glanced over the sheet the teacher had passed out. It detailed an experiment with chemicals they were to use their time to accomplish, with lots of pouring and things fizzing and all that. Classic chemistry assignment, and also extremely boring, but hell if it didn’t make him feel like he was Harry Potter in potions class.

“Okay, take this one,” Sabrina said, holding out a vial to him. “Pour it into the beaker next.”

Their hands brushed as he took it from her, and it took all of his willpower not to spill the vial’s contents all over himself at the jolt his heart felt. He quickly poured it into their beaker, watching the contents color turn from clear to a lighter blue.

“What’s this supposed to do, anyway?” he asked as she rearranged things on the table, moving vials into correct order of usage and pushing the beaker to the center.

“It’s supposed to foam or fizz or something like that,” she muttered, glancing over their sheet again. It seemed pretty easy, but there were a lot of components to keep in mind, and getting one wrong might mean they fail the assignment.

Sabrina poured the next vial in herself, and frowned when nothing happened. “Shit, it’s not doing anything.”

“Here, let me see,” Puck said, pulling the worksheet closer to him and glancing over it. Then, he pulled two vials from their places and poured them in at once.

“What are you doing?” Sabrina hissed, grabbing his arm as if to stop him, though it was too late. He’d already poured, and they watched as the mixture turned purple and foamed and fizzed up so much that the beaker overflowed, spilling onto the table. “Oh.”

“Yeah, see! I totally know what I’m doing,” Puck said, trying to mask the fact that he did not, in fact, know what he was doing.

The teacher wandered over as she saw the commotion, and gave an approving nod. “Well done, you two. Full marks, for result and speed. Keep up the good work.”

Puck beamed at Sabrina, and when she smiled back at him, he accidentally knocked their beaker off the table and sent it crashing to the floor. Moment broken, the teacher and Sabrina both leveled him with glares, and he shrugged sheepishly at them.

That’s how things usually went for him, anyway. One step forward, two steps back.

* * *

 Sabrina groaned from her place in the passenger seat, slumped and curled up, arms wrapped around her knees. "I'm so glad that's over. Today was a terrible day. I thought that it would never end."

Puck sent her an incredulous look. "I'll say. You nearly murdered half of our P.E. class during dodgeball. I think you broke Wendell's arm."

"I did not," she frowned. "I only sent 4 to the infirmary, that's all. That’s less than last time. And he's fine, it's probably just a sprain. It's not my fault that he doesn't try to dodge so he won't have to play. So really, that’s his own fault."

Puck chewed his lip in thought. "Don't worry Grimm, it’s Friday. Tonight will be great, and then we'll have all weekend to just hang out."

She stayed silent, but he could tell that she was begrudgingly looking forward to it.

* * *

 "Oh good, you're home!" Granny called as the two teenagers entered the house. "Once Daphne gets home, we're going to carve the pumpkins you picked out last weekend and make some sweets! Pumpkin seeds, cookies… The whole nine yards."

The old lady had dived into keeping the kids busy to keep her mind off of the case. After the forensics research had come up with no solid results, she had spent all her time fretting over her grandkids (and Puck). It was obvious that she was worried about how it would progress, as there was nothing more that they could look into at the moment. Puck had to admit that he himself was feeling downtrodden by the lack of evidence, even though he wasn’t as invested in the case as the ladies were.

Puck waved to the old lady and nodded in understanding, flopping down onto the couch in the living room that he’d spent more time on than the one in his parents’ house. Sabrina sunk down next to him, sighing and laying her head on his shoulder tiredly, her eyelids drooping.

A grin crept across his face. Over the past month, Sabrina had become more comfortable with the idea of the two of them being friends (or kinda-sorta-maybe best friends as she referred to it). She seemed to be able to relax more in his presence, and was more comfortable with intimate actions like this.

There was just one problem.

Puck kind of liked her. _Like liked_ her. At least, he was only a little sure that’s what he was feeling. She was earthy and she didn't care what people thought about her. She was smart and headstrong and stubborn. She wasn't like the other girls that the quiet town of Ferryport Landing had to offer, and he loved that about her. (Not that he didn’t appreciate the other girls, of course, there was just something about Sabrina that clicked with him, something he’d never experienced before with anyone; something that pulled his heartstrings and didn’t let go).

And she certainly wasn't anything like Moth. Sabrina was… genuine in a way that Moth wasn’t. That, and Sabrina wasn’t so nasty. She didn’t gossip, or snarl at people in the halls, or spread rumors. She was kind, and she cared about other people. She didn’t try to tear them down at every turn. Sure, she was grumpy sometimes, but Puck had never seen her laugh at people openly like Moth.

Not that he needed to compare them; they were their own people. But everything he disliked about Moth, he liked about Sabrina, and there was something that just drew him to her like a moth to a flame.

It was such a cliché, but Puck just appreciated how Sabrina was so wholehearted and genuine in everything she did. That and she could totally beat him up. He admired that.

Sabrina's voice snapped him out of his stupor. "How about a round of Mario Kart?"

"Oh, you're so on."

* * *

 As soon as Daphne got home, the family was herded into the kitchen for some quality pumpkin carving time. Uncle Jake even brought Briar, and Elvis was there too (though he mostly tried to munch on his own pumpkin since he couldn't carve it, leaving toothmarks in his wake). Daphne's friend Red was there too, as well as a man who introduced himself as Mr. Canis, Red's father. The old lady called him "old friend", and Puck remembered the man dimly from days spent at Granny's house when he was a kid. The two were clearly close.

As they were emptying the pumpkins of their insides, Puck tried to initiate what he called a 'gut fight' by throwing 'pumpkin guts' at Sabrina. This only succeeded in making her angry. He got the wind knocked out of him for it. That still didn’t stop him from stuffing a glob of the stuff down the back of her shirt, and running when she threatened to do the same to him.

The pumpkin carving process itself was long and strenuous. Puck carved a gruesome face into his that had scared the daylights out of Red, while Sabrina and Daphne carved simple faces (though Daphne's was… quirky with its mismatched eyes and sideways mouth). Uncle Jake carved a rose into his and presented it to Briar, who in turn showed him her pumpkin carving of himself, an insanely accurate portrait of the man. The old lady didn't carve a pumpkin and instead collected the insides of the pumpkins for soup and pies and stuff.

After all the pumpkins were carved, the kids carted them outside and arranged them on the porch, setting candles in them and lighting them. They admired them for a moment before they got too cold to properly enjoy them, and they headed back inside to commence making treats for the rest of the evening.

Afterwards, Sabrina and Puck were put on cupcake duty while everyone else worked on cookies. Granny made the pies all by herself, claiming that she had a 'secret recipe' that the girls would one day learn. Because Halloween was just around the corner (and, subsequently, their Halloween party), Granny needed many ghoulish treats to be made for the event. Most of the dishes would be made that day, but the sweets were being made early while there was help to spare.

The baking itself was rather boring in Puck's opinion, but after getting the wind knocked out of him (twice) he wasn't sure if he wanted to try and start something. Instead, he dutifully helped Sabrina in making the cupcakes. She made him make the frosting, but after he ate half of it in the process, she let him have the rest and made her own batch.

And as she put her all into making the best cupcakes that she could, Puck sat on the counter eating frosting out of a bowl with his fingers, watching her work with a dreamy expression.

* * *

 "What movie are we going to watch tonight?" Puck asked, flopping down on Sabrina's bed next to her after that exhausting round of baking (or eating, in Puck's case). The popcorn bowl nearly tipped over and she gave him a murderous look. He smiled at her sheepishly.

"We aren't going to watch a movie tonight," she said, and he opened his mouth to argue when she surged on, not letting him. "We're going to spend the whole weekend marathoning _Parks and Recreation_ instead."

He considered the idea seriously, as if it was a life or death situation. "How many seasons?"

"Six, currently. The final one is coming in January, though."

"Funny?"

"Hilariously so."

He was still a little doubtful, especially because when they breezed through the first season, it still hadn't really caught him. But halfway through the second season, he was beginning to actually enjoy it. After the final episode of season 2, despite how his eyes burned for sleep, he needed more. He was hooked. This was one of the funniest shows he had ever seen in his entire life.

"Sabrina, nex-" He began, looking over only to find her passed out cold. His voiced died in his throat and she grumbled something unintelligible, rolling over so that her back was facing him. Glancing at the clock, Puck realized why. It was already 2 in the morning.

Sighing, he turned the DVD player off and leaned back against the pillows, pulling the covers over the both of them. It was best if he went to sleep; Sabrina would murder him if he watched any more of the show without him, and well… he wanted to share it with her.

Turning so that the curves of their backs were pressed together, Puck instantly drifted off to sleep.

 

**Part 3**

**Halloween (Friday, October 31st, 2014) – Sabrina**

_At least it isn't Christmas morning_ , Sabrina thought glumly as Daphne jumped up and down at the end of Sabrina's bed, wearing her Daphne costume from Scooby Doo. Sabrina swore she hadn't taken it off since they bought it two days ago; every time she turned the corner she spotted the orange wig and purple dress.

Rubbing her eyes tiredly, Sabrina crawled out of bed and wobbled toward her dresser. Today was going to be a long day, even though it was a half-day at school. Granny was having a party later, so the house would be crowded and she would be forced to socialize with people other than Puck, which was bad enough as it is. She still didn’t know that many people in town, after all, so there would be a lot of introductions.

"Wear your costume Sabrina!" Daphne cried from the end of Sabrina's bed, still bouncing back and forth on her heels. "You said you put something together but all you got from the Halloween store was a black witch hat. I wanna see what you are!"

Sabrina rolled her eyes and got dressed nonetheless. Really, she just pulled on clothes she usually wore; a navy blue cardigan, white t-shirt, and black skinny jeans with her white high-tops. To top it all off, she put on her witch hat.

"Sabrina," Daphne said, shooting her a confused look, as if it was starting to dawn on her that Sabrina hadn’t put together a costume at all. "What are you supposed to be, exactly?"

"I'm Sabrina the teenage witch," Sabrina said proudly, grinning. Daphne glared at her, obviously annoyed by Sabrina’s cop out of a costume. "Hey, don't be like that. You know I'm not that fond of dressing up for Halloween. I like the scary parts better. That's what Halloween is all about, after all."

"I know," she mumbled, crossing her arms. "Still, you could have at least tried a little harder."

Sabrina frowned at her sister as she watched her storm out of the room, stomping her feet dramatically as she went. "Jeez," Sabrina muttered, following her close behind. From the smell wafting up the stairs (honey, pumpkin, and lavender) it seemed like breakfast was ready.

"What's for breakfast?" She asked as she entered the dining room and taking her usual seat. "It smells… interesting, whatever it is."

"Honey and lemon waffles with lavender syrup," Granny said, setting a plate of food in front of her. "And completely normal pumpkin pie for you, _liebling_."

"For breakfast?" Sabrina asked incredulously, but she couldn't help but smile. A good, normal food item for breakfast. Well, pie for breakfast was about as normal as you could get in this house. It looked like her prayers were answered after all!

* * *

 "Hey, Grimm. You ready for today?" Puck asked as Sabrina climbed into the passenger seat of his car and nabbed his hoodie from the seat and stuffed it into her backpack.

"Not really," she sighed, turning the heat up and Puck's horrible taste in music down. "Where's your costume, anyway? Daphne nearly had a fit when I told her this was my costume. She might not talk to me for a week."

Puck turned a little so she could see the pink fairy wings taped to his dirty green sweatshirt. "I'm me, duh! And who are you supposed to be, anyway?"

Sabrina rolled her eyes at him. By 'me', Puck probably meant Puck from _A Midsummer Night's Dream_. At least his costume was just as bad as hers, by Daphne’s standards. "I'm Sabrina the teenage witch. Obviously."

Puck glanced at her with a perplexed expression. "I didn't know that you were a witch, Grimm. Cast any spells recently? Did you forget your cat?"

"No, idiot, it's a TV show about a teenage girl named Sabrina who, shocker, is a witch."

"Don't sass me or I'm turning this car around."

"Shut up."

He stuck his tongue out at her but obliged, opting instead to turning the music back up, _Monster Mash_ blaring from the speakers louder than was strictly necessary.

* * *

 School was an extremely boring event after all, just as she predicted. Most of the students were dressed up in their costumes, though many claimed that they were too old for Halloween (in Sabrina's opinion, they were right, but Daphne would probably murder her if she agreed with them). The school itself wasn't decorated and the teachers were even more grumpy and dull than usual.

Homeroom was even noisier than what Sabrina was used to, which she had thought was impossible. Apparently, she was wrong. Her peers were far more rowdy during the holidays, it seemed. She spent the entire duration of time with her fingers in her ears and her eyes glued to the clock, counting down the minutes.

English was incredibly boring and quiet. The teacher had decided that there would be no lesson, but the students weren't allowed to talk at all, so in between reading sections of her most recent novel, she spent most of that class period texting Puck.

**  
Sabrina**

> _This is so boring._

**  
Fairy Boy**

> _Suck it up, grimm_

**  
Sabrina**

> _No offer to ditch?_ _  
_

> _That’s new._

_ > Also, rude. _

**  
Fairy Boy**

> _Of course not_

> _who do you think i am? ;)_

**  
Sabrina**

> _An idiot._

**  
Fairy Boy**

> _Lmao jk_

> _Wanna meet me in the hall?_

> _We can eat 2nd breakfast at denny's_

**  
Sabrina**

> No.  


**Fairy Boy**

> aw :(  
  
  
To be honest, Denny's actually sounded a little good right now and the offer was tempting, but Sabrina had never ditched a day in her life and she wasn't about to start now. At least the class itself only lasted for a little over half an hour.

Just a little longer.

* * *

The rest of the day was short, thankfully, and they picked lunch up from Briar Rose’s cafe on the ride home. It wasn’t a traditional lunch by any means, but on a day such as this, it was nice to enjoy some coffee and a slice of Briar’s wonderful pumpkin bread, a seasonal treat that would be gone by the end of fall, not to return until the next year. Puck had gotten some coffee as well, and an array of treats such as a blueberry muffin and a scone, as well as one of those jelly cookies Briar makes that are well known around town.

They ate their treats at the dining table at home, and Sabrina spent most of the meal staring out the dining room window at the falling leaves, hands wrapped around the disposable paper cup her coffee had come in. Puck sat quietly across from her, eating quietly (a rare thing for him).

Sometime between the end of her pastry and draining half of her cup, Granny joined them at the table, sitting quietly with her own meal and gazing out the window with Sabrina.

“What’s on your mind, dear?” Granny asked as Puck got up to clear his garbage and use the restroom. Sabrina looked at her in surprise, having been so lost in her own thoughts that she’d barely noticed the woman arrived.

“A lot of things,” Sabrina admitted. She looked down at the cup in her hands and took a long drink. “School, friends, my parents… The case. Just a lot of stuff. It’s all… it’s everywhere in my mind, y’know?”

“I know, _liebling_ ,” Granny said, her mouth flattening into a grim line. “I worry about you. You’re a very strong woman, Sabrina, but you take things to heart. You can’t trap this case inside you.”

“Thanks, Granny,” Sabrina said, turning her gaze back to the tree outside. She didn’t know how to tell her grandmother that the case was already trapped inside her. The damage was done. “I’m okay.”

“I’m glad you have him,” Granny said, standing. She placed a hand on Sabrina’s shoulder, then gathered her dishes and left the room. Sabrina didn’t have to ask to know who she meant, or _what_ she meant. And she was right.

Sabrina was glad too.

* * *

 Later on in the afternoon, just as Puck and Sabrina are settling onto the couch to start the movies and wait for Daphne to get home, her phone buzzes in her pocket with a phone call. She pulled it out, surprised to see her mother’s name flash across the screen. She stands and motions to Puck, a _I’ll be back in a second_ gesture, and took the call in her room.

“Hey mom,” Sabrina said when she answers.

“ _Hey sweetheart, happy Halloween!_ ” her mom said, and Sabrina is instantly comforted by the sound of her mother’s voice. They called as often as they could with their schedules, often right before bed, but it was still nice to hear from her. “ _How’s your day been so far?_ ”

“It’s been great,” Sabrina said, running her free hand through her hair as she sunk down into her armchair. “School was short today, and Puck and I went to Briar’s café for lunch. Now we’re going to watch movies with Daphne until trick or treating time and then we have Granny’s party…”

“ _That sounds like fun. How’s Puck? You two still the best of friends?_ ”

Sabrina scoffed, but blushed at her mother’s mention of her friend. “He’s good. Just as annoying as always.”

“ _Well, I’ll let you get back to it. But call me tomorrow, okay? And your father says hi._ ”

“Okay. Thanks mom, I love you. Tell dad I said hi.”

“ _Love you too._ ” 

Sabrina lowered her phone to her lap as the call end screen blinked at her. She let her phone turn off by itself as she sat for a moment, thinking about the call. Then she stood and went back downstairs, finding Puck and Daphne arguing in the living room.

“Grimm! Tell Marshmallow that we need to watch _The Shining_. She wants to watch some kiddy movie,” Puck exclaimed as soon as Sabrina returned.

“No way!” Daphne said, shoving Puck with both her hands. He barely moved. “I want to watch _Scary Godmother_!”

“Hate to break it to you, monkey boy, but I’m with Daphne on this one,” Sabrina said, shoving herself between the two of them and draping her legs across Puck’s lap. “We can watch the scarier stuff later when she goes to bed.”

“Ugh,” Puck groaned, flopping backwards. “Fine.”

Daphne squealed and jumped up, shoving _Scary Godmother_ into the DVD player. Puck laid his arms over Sabrina’s legs and beamed at her, and she returned his smile.

And there, they stayed.

* * *

 "Alright, _lieblings_ , have fun and be safe!" Granny called after them as they ran down the driveway, smiling and laughing. "And don't forget to be home by 9!"

Sabrina waved to Granny as she, Puck, Daphne, and Red headed down the street to begin their trick or treating adventure. Ferryport Landing was an extremely small town, so she figured that they wouldn't have any trouble navigating or getting lost, but she was a little worried about Daphne running off. Sometimes when her sister spotted something that interested her, she would take off in its direction without any warning. She’d gotten lost a lot when they were younger.

It did happen a few times while they were out, but luckily Red kept her in line most of the time.

The hours passed by faster than any of them expected and soon enough the sun had set, sinking below the horizon and casting pastel hues through the sky before darkening into the inky black that it was now. The October sky turned from shades of orange to dark, spotted with stars brighter than any she would have seen in the city. The sight was beautiful.

"We should probably start heading back," Sabrina spoke up as she checked the time. 8:34 blinked up at her in bright red characters from her watch. "Granny's party starts soon."

"Aw but my bag isn't completely full yet," Puck whined, digging his hand through the candy in his pillow case. "And some of it sucks. We need to keep going!"

Sabrina ignored the similar arguments from the two younger kids and rolled her eyes. "You have plenty. And besides, if we get back in time, we can trade candy, okay?"

Puck's eyes lit up and he nodded eagerly, excited by the prospect of getting better candy _and_ not having to work for it. "What are we waiting for then?"

Puck looped his arm through Sabrina's and started skipping, dragging her in the direction of Granny's house, and Sabrina allowed it with a small huff in complaint. They were nearing Granny's house with 10 minutes to go when they passed it. Sabrina dug her heels into the ground, pulling herself and Puck to a stop.

The moon shone over the house where the girl was murdered just weeks earlier, still surrounded in yellow police tape. It seemed to sag underneath the moonlight, and the area felt eerie. The door was closed, but Sabrina could almost see through it, back to that day when they found her there. The giggles and footfalls of Daphne and Red as they ran in circles waiting for them masked the unusual silence that encompassed the area, but Sabrina felt it in her bones. She shivered and ran a hand across her forehead.

"What is it?" Puck whispered in her ear, jolting her out of her thoughts. She turned to look at him, his expression looking vaguely worried. It was hard to see in the dark, though, so it was probably just a trick of the light. Puck, worried? Yeah right.

"Nothing," she replied shortly, though a spike a grief and fear tore through her as she was violently reminded of her nightmare, several weeks before. She grabbed his arm once again and continued on, and Puck silently complied.

* * *

 They arrived back home just in the nick of time; the party was only just beginning. Sabrina and Puck sat across from each other on the floor of the living room, dumping their candy into separate piles in front of them.

"I'll give you two Kit Kats for three of your chocolate eyes," Puck said before they’d even had time to sort the candy, pointing to the chocolate eyeballs in Sabrina's pile.

"Deal," she said, sliding the candy to him in exchange for the Kit Kats. They weren’t her favorites, but they were close enough that the exchange was a great deal.

They spent most of the party seated there on the floor, munching on the candy that they had worked so hard for and the cupcakes that they had toiled over earlier that week. And when the party wound to a close, they scooted closer and popped a horror movie into the TV.

The last thing that Sabrina remembers before drifting off is her head on Puck's shoulder, his fingers combing through her hair and the smell of pumpkin pie and candy as the actress on the TV screamed in terror.

* * *

 _So rabbit please stop looking the other way_   
_It's cold out there so why not stay here_ _  
_Under my tail


End file.
